British and Irish leaders take charge of Northern Ireland talks

London - The leaders of Britain and Ireland became personally involved in last-ditch efforts Monday to save the Northern Ireland peace process from collapse. Speaking after a crisis meeting in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, said they would travel to the troubled province of Northern Ireland later Monday to mediate between the political parties there.

The power-sharing devolved government of Northern Ireland has been hovering on the brink of collapse due to the failure of its joint leaders to agree on the crucial issue of transferring the power for policing and justice to the province from the government in London.

Brown said he hoped that the involvement of the two heads of government would "make a difference" to resolving the issue and free the path for the full implementation of the 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement.

Earlier Monday, the leader (First Minister) of the Belfast government, Peter Robinson, of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein - the mainstream Catholic republican party - held emergency talks in Belfast.

They made no statement as they emerged, but a grim-faced McGuinness urged Robinson to be "positive and constructive" and to "get the business done."

Robinson, who recently got embroiled in a sex-and-fraud affair concerning his wife, Iris, agreed a six-week suspension from his post two weeks ago. But he has nonetheless remained at the center of the crisis talks with Sinn Fein.

Opinion polls have shown that the transfer of police and justice powers to a government in which Sinn Fein plays a key role remains greatly unpopular among Protestants in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein is the erstwhile political ally of the notorious Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305683,british-and-irish-leaders-take-charge-of-northern-ireland-talks.html.