Northern Ireland politicians have a real opportunity to deliver strong and lasting devolved government for the community, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said yesterday when he set out the effective agenda for the St Andrews talks in Scotland next week.
Mr Hain yesterday wrote to party leaders outlining the main areas for negotiation at St Andrews and listing possible legislation that may need to be speedily implemented should the parties strike agreement by the British and Irish governments' deadline of November 24th.
Mr Hain said the two key areas for agreement were policing and changes to the institutions of the Belfast Agreement. "The talks in Scotland provide a real opportunity to work together to clear away remaining differences and doubts in these areas and for all parties to demonstrate their support for restoring the institutions. Both governments are committed to working with you to achieve that aim," he said.
Mr Hain added that Wednesday's positive Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report on IRA activity should provide a constructive mood for the talks which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair will chair from Wednesday to Friday next week. "The IMC's report provides a very vivid reminder of just how much progress has been made over the last three years to end paramilitary activity. The decisive conclusions of the IMC, particularly in relation to the end of the IRA's campaign, are an important context for our discussions," he said.
The success or failure of next week's talks will hinge on whether Sinn Féin will sign up to policing and whether the DUP will agree to share power with Sinn Féin.
The governments are seriously considering proposing a deal which would require Sinn Féin and the DUP to make commitments respectively on policing and powersharing by November 24th, although it would be beyond this date, and possibly into next year, before Sinn Féin would endorse the police and the DUP would enter a powersharing Executive with Sinn Féin.
Another difficult issue, as detailed by Mr Hain yesterday, is agreement on when a department of justice and policing would be devolved to the executive, and who should run the department. Suggestions include a DUP and a Sinn Féin minister jointly in charge of the sensitive department or a DUP minister and a junior Sinn Féin minister.
The parties will also discuss proposals to ensure collective cabinet responsibility and proper ministerial accountability to the Assembly and to prevent individual ministers acting arbitrarily. Issues relating to community restorative justice will also cause difficulty, while a matter listed as "residual justice issues" may be construed as a euphemism for the controversial subject of paramilitary fugitives known, as the "on the runs".
Another vexed subject is how to elect the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, which if there is a deal, will be Dr Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness. Previously the two were elected together to reflect the cross-community consensual philosophy of the Belfast Agreement but the DUP, to create some distance between Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness, wants the entire Executive and First and Deputy First Minister elected as a single entity.
