Hillary Clinton urges Northern Ireland to reach deal on police and justice
Hillary Clinton will urge Northern Ireland’s leaders today to finish the work of the Good Friday accord by agreeing a timetable for transferring police and justice powers from Westminster.
The US Secretary of State’s visit coincides with the announcement that a terrorist group is going out of business. The Irish National Liberation Army, which in 1979 murdered the MP Airey Neave, declared its war over yesterday, in a statement delivered over the grave of its founder Seamus Costello.
After talks in Dublin with Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach, Mrs Clinton said of the stand-off between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin: “There are questions and apprehensions but I believe that due to the concerted effort of the British Government, the Irish Government, the support of friends like us in the United States, the parties understand that this is a step they must take together. I will certainly provide as much support as I can.”
Speaking earlier in London, she said that there was now no financial support from American sympathisers for the “evil enterprise” of republican terrorists such as the Real IRA.
“To me, terrorism is terrorism, and those who would try to disrupt the peace are out of step and out of time,” she said. “But it is imperative that the process established by the Good Friday agreement be seen all the way to conclusion. I know that Prime Minister Brown is very focused on that.”
The prospects of a breakthrough today at Stormont, where she will address the chamber, have dimmed as the DUP continue to seek concessions before agreeing to the devolution of policing and justice powers. Sinn Fein wants it to take place immediately. A snap election cannot be ruled out.
The INLA has for 11 years observed a less than perfect ceasefire; in February it claimed it had murdered a drug dealer. It has been talking with intermediaries of London and Dublin for several months and is believed to be in contact with the international commission about putting its weapons beyond use.
