Guardian, December 14, 2004

Paisley cuts ties with taoiseach

Michael White
Tuesday December 14, 2004
The Guardian

An attempt by Bertie Ahern, the Irish taoiseach, to help the Democratic Unionist party leader, Ian Paisley, out of the impasse on IRA disarmament appeared to have backfired last night when Mr Paisley denounced him and severed his growing links with the Dublin government. Mr Ahern's offence - committed after meeting the Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness - was to suggest that an alternative to Mr Paisley's demand for photographic verification of IRA decommissioning would have to be found to allow agreement and restart Northern Ireland's power-sharing regime.

"We have cut off, from today, all connections with the southern government in talks. As far as we are concerned, he is a man that can't be trusted," the DUP leader told reporters in Belfast.

Such is the delicacy of the situation that last night Mr Ahern was reported to have phoned Mr Paisley to apologise.

Mr Paisley had insisted that photographs must be taken and published to persuade wary voters in both communities that the Provos were finally abandoning the Armalite rifle for the ballot box.

Sinn Féin called that deliberate humiliation, with the result that hopes of a deal collapsed last week. Mr Ahern, Tony Blair and the Northern Ireland secretary, Paul Murphy, are determined to bridge the tantalisingly small but symbolic gap.

Officials said that Mr Ahern had been trying to "get Mr Paisley off the hook" by suggesting that a non-photographic route be found. Calling the impasse "insanity", the taoiseach said: "We had the issue of photographs and that's not workable, so we have to try to find some other way."

In a Guardian interview last week, Mr Murphy said much the same thing - that the key was not the mechanism for verification, but the fact of agreement: "If Paisley and Adams agree, it's fine, whatever it is."

London and Dublin, which are working smoothly together, remain upbeat. Mr Murphy and his Irish counterpart hope to meet party leaders in Belfast tomorrow. A DUP boycott could be tricky.