Northern Ireland Peace Deal
Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams meet face to face in Belfast
After a round table meeting at Stormont in Belfast, Democratic Unionist and Sinn Fein leaders have agreed to a peace deal. Self-rule will be a reality by 8 May.
As the people of Northern Ireland are coming to terms with the previously unthinkable image of the Democratic Unionist and Sinn Fein leaders sealing their devolution deal at Stormont, in Belfast, MPs and peers are preparing for a almost super-human effort to make the agreement a reality.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the deal between Northern Ireland's arch-enemy Protestant and Catholic leaders as opening a "new era" for the long-troubled province, even though it delays the resumption of self-rule by six weeks until May 8.
After decades of hatred and bloodshed in Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams had their first face-to-face meeting ever. Sitting only a few feet apart, the Democratic Unionist Party leader and the Sinn Fein president announced their intention to resurrect Stormont by May 8.
Thirteen years after the IRA (Irish Republican Army) called its first ceasefire and 18 months after it was finally judged to have decommissioned weapons, the men pledged that their parties would work together.
Paisley, firebrand leader of Protestant conservatives the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and Adams, president of Catholic socialists Sinn Fein, struck the deal hours before a midnight deadline set by Britain to agree or see rule continue from London indefinitely. They were figureheads of Northern Ireland's sectarian divide and bitter arch-foes throughout "The Troubles".
More than 3 000 people were killed in three decades of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland until the 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord.
Mr Paisley, who opposed the power-sharing executives brokered by more moderate politicians during the Sunningdale and Belfast agreements of 1973 and 1998, completed a remarkable transformation by indicating he would enter government with the political wing of the IRA.
"After a long and difficult time in our province, I believe that enormous opportunities lie ahead for our province. We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future for our children," Paisley said.
Before this meeting, Mr Paisley, an 80 year old preacher, had never spoken to his arch enemies, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's leader and chief negotiator.
Paisley reportedly told the meeting that it was a "work-in, not a love-in" when the delegations sat down. As the future First Minister, he will meet regularly with Mr McGuinness, his deputy-in-waiting, to prepare for devolution.
In a speech punctuated with Gaelic, Adams 58, added that the agreement "marks the beginning of a new era of politics on this island." Adams, a reputed veteran IRA commander, said Monday's talks and accord "marks the beginning of a new era of politics on this island."
He said Protestants and Catholics had been in conflict in northeast Ireland for centuries. "Now there's a new start, with the help of God," he said.
Ireland's Belfast-born President Mary McAleese said an "extraordinary day" had seen the marking of a "profoundly important milestone on the journey towards lasting peace and reconciliation.
Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach (Ireland’s Prime Minister), said: "We move forward from today in an entirely new spirit and with every expectation of success."
Both Adams and Paisley said they and their deputies would begin immediate negotiations on forging a joint platform for government.
Rev Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams announced an historic agreement on 26 March 2006 that will restore devolution to Northern Ireland in six weeks time. Watch it here.
Full text of Gerry Adams’s Statement
Full Text of Ian Paisely’s Statement
