The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said last night he was "broadly in agreement" with the thrust of the Taoiseach's speech in Coleraine yesterday where he called on paramilitaries to end violence and unionists to share power with nationalists.
The Taoiseach concluded his trip to Northern Ireland in Belfast by meeting the SDLP lord mayor of the city, Mr Martin Morgan, and leaders of the other parties in Belfast City Hall.
He then travelled to the Springvale Training Centre in west Belfast where, in front of a large crowd of politicians, business people, voluntary and community activists and others, he learned about how the West Belfast Partnership is trying to generate jobs and economic and social growth.
Mr Adams, in part of a speech of welcome, endorsed the "broad thrust" of Mr Ahern's Coleraine speech. He focused on the Taoiseach's emphasis on the British and Irish governments being co-guarantors of the Belfast Agreement and urged the Government to do more to see the full implementation of the agreement.
He said the Government should exercise pressure on the British government to lift the suspension of the Assembly, to ensure the publication of the Cory report on allegations of security force collusion, to address collusion in general, and to ensure support for the Irish language and prisoners.
Mr Jim Wells, a DUP Assembly member, said he agreed with Mr Ahern's comments about paramilitary violence but said the agreement should not be "resuscitated". SDLP Assembly member Ms Carmel Hanna welcomed that Mr Ahern had identified the end of paramilitary activity and the need for loyalists to work with nationalists as the two "crux issues" for progress. "This is what (SDLP leader) Mark Durkan has been consistently saying," she added.
