Blair cuts short vacation to deal with Northern Ireland

BELFAST – British Prime Minister Tony Blair is cutting short his New Year holiday to return to London yesterday amid signs of new hurdles in the Northern Ireland peace process, a source close to the British leader said.

“He’s returning 24 hours early to deal with the situation” in Northern Ireland, a source close to the prime minister told AFP on condition of anonymity. The source added that Blair would be back at his Downing Street office yesterday.There was no official comment from the office of the prime minister, who has been holidaying in Miami, Florida.Sources close to the leadership of Sinn Fein, the main Republican party in Northern Ireland, said it now has doubts about whether to go ahead with a planned conference to decide whether to support the province’s police service.Sinn Fein’s refusal to back the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been a major stumbling block to restoring the power-sharing government.Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest force supporting continued ties with Britain, told Sinn Fein on Wednesday to move forward with honouring its commitments on policing.”Instead of whinging and running to Tony Blair, Sinn Fein should get on with doing what it is supposed to do,” Dodd said, adding that his party had nothing tangible yet to respond to.Sinn Fein said Adams has spoken to Blair several times over recent days, including Wednesday.A Sinn Fein source said trouble is brewing because DUP leader Ian Paisley has given a less enthusiastic response than expected to the conference planned for this month.”If (Sinn Fein leader) Gerry Adams thinks the DUP are going to screw him, there will be no special Ard-fheis (conference),” a Sinn Fein source told AFP Wednesday.Adams wanted a vote from Republicans – those like Sinn Fein who want union with the Republic of Ireland – at a conference which would clear the way for young Catholics not just to support the PSNI but to actually join it.Until 1994 the police were viewed as “legitimate targets” by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the military wing of Sinn Fein which in 2005 declared an end to the armed struggle in favour of a political process.The Republican leadership is angry that, since Sinn Fein’s leaders voted last week to hold the conference, Paisley has failed to show any flexibility on when his party would consider transferring policing and justice powers to local politicians.The British and Irish governments have set a March 26 deadline for Northern Ireland’s parties to restore power-sharing between majority Protestants, who mostly favour retaining links with Britain, and Catholics, who largely favour union with the Republic of Ireland.Otherwise the parties will see the window of opportunity slam shut and the province ruled from London.The promise of self-rule was among the main planks of the landmark 1998 Good Friday agreement which ended three decades of “the Troubles”, in which over 3 500 people died, many at the hands of the IRA.But devolved government was suspended in 2002 after allegations of an IRA spy ring at Stormont, the Belfast seat of administration, and Northern Ireland has been back under direct rule from London ever since.Nampa-AFPThe source added that Blair would be back at his Downing Street office yesterday.There was no official comment from the office of the prime minister, who has been holidaying in Miami, Florida.Sources close to the leadership of Sinn Fein, the main Republican party in Northern Ireland, said it now has doubts about whether to go ahead with a planned conference to decide whether to support the province’s police service.Sinn Fein’s refusal to back the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been a major stumbling block to restoring the power-sharing government.Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest force supporting continued ties with Britain, told Sinn Fein on Wednesday to move forward with honouring its commitments on policing.”Instead of whinging and running to Tony Blair, Sinn Fein should get on with doing what it is supposed to do,” Dodd said, adding that his party had nothing tangible yet to respond to.Sinn Fein said Adams has spoken to Blair several times over recent days, including Wednesday.A Sinn Fein source said trouble is brewing because DUP leader Ian Paisley has given a less enthusiastic response than expected to the conference planned for this month.”If (Sinn Fein leader) Gerry Adams thinks the DUP are going to screw him, there will be no special Ard-fheis (conference),” a Sinn Fein source told AFP Wednesday.Adams wanted a vote from Republicans – those like Sinn Fein who want union with the Republic of Ireland – at a conference which would clear the way for young Catholics not just to support the PSNI but to actually join it.Until 1994 the police were viewed as “legitimate targets” by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the military wing of Sinn Fein which in 2005 declared an end to the armed struggle in favour of a political process.The Republican leadership is angry that, since Sinn Fein’s leaders voted last week to hold the conference, Paisley has failed to show any flexibility on when his party would consider transferring policing and justice powers to local politicians.The British and Irish governments have set a March 26 deadline for Northern Ireland’s parties to restore power-sharing between majority Protestants, who mostly favour retaining links with Britain, and Catholics, who largely favour union with the Republic of Ireland.Otherwise the parties will see the window of opportunity slam shut and the province ruled from London.The promise of self-rule was among the main planks of the landmark 1998 Good Friday agreement which ended three decades of “the Troubles”, in which over 3 500 people died, many at the hands of the IRA.But devolved government was suspended in 2002 after allegations of an IRA spy ring at Stormont, the Belfast seat of administration, and Northern Ireland has been back under direct rule from London ever since.Nampa-AFP