Irish PM calls for urgent restoration of Northern Ireland government

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Irish PM calls for urgent restoration of Northern Ireland government

 

FILE PHOTO: Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Leo Varadkar, speaks outside Stormont House, in Belfast, Northern Ireland February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's Prime Minister called for the urgent restoration of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government on Monday after talks to end a year-long political stalemate broke down yet again last week.

 

Both the British and Irish governments have said they want to get the talks back on track but neither have suggested when Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) should return to the negotiating table.

 

The British province has been without a devolved executive for over a year since Sinn Fein withdrew from the compulsory coalition with their arch-rivals that has been central to a 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of violence there.

 

"The (Irish) government will continue to engage with the parties in Northern Ireland and the British government to support the urgent formation of a new executive," Varadkar said in a statement after meeting with Sinn Fein and speaking to British Prime Minister Theresa May by phone.

 

Before meeting Varadkar, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said there should be no delay in resuming talks that she and both governments believe were close to a successful outcome before the DUP pulled out over a disagreement on additional rights for Irish-language speakers.

 

DUP leader Arlene Foster reiterated her call for London to take further financial control of the region, saying her party remained committed to devolution "but not at any price".

 

Britain has already had to take steps towards governing the region directly for the first time in a decade and many fear a return to full British direct rule would further destabilise a delicate balance between nationalists and unionists.

 

Britain has said it is absolutely committed to restoring the power-sharing administration and Varadkar repeated on Monday that his government did not want to see the introduction of direct rule across the border.

 

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by John Stonestreet)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-20

 

[mercman24]

do i understand no Irish government for 1 year, maybe we dont need a UK government, all they do is bloody talk and no action

[claffey]

No 'devolved' government in Northern Ireland.

 

The Irish government is in Dublin which is in the Republic of Ireland and is not part of the United Kingdom.

[Baerboxer]

5 hours ago, mercman24 said:

do i understand no Irish government for 1 year, maybe we dont need a UK government, all they do is bloody talk and no action

 

Ask the Belgians. They didn't have a government for a long time. 

[nontabury]

And the problem now is due to the Political wing of the IRA, demanding that the ancient Irish language must be imposed on the Loyalist population.

Why would they do that, when few people in the R.I. Can speak the language.

Better they demand that people learn Chinese, at least it’ll be useful.

[Macthehat]

6 hours ago, nontabury said:

And the problem now is due to the Political wing of the IRA, demanding that the ancient Irish language must be imposed on the Loyalist population.

Why would they do that, when few people in the R.I. Can speak the language.

Better they demand that people learn Chinese, at least it’ll be useful.

The DUP cherry pick how irish they want to be, advising their voters to get Irish passports when possible . Seems hyprocital to me , but then again Sinn Fein are a bunch of hypocrites also . Sack the lot ! , stop their ludricus wages for nothing and let's see some real movement