26/09/2008

Hope For Progress At Hopetoun House

Brian Cowen is to meet Stormont leaders at intergovernmental talks in Edinburgh, today (Friday), with hopes for progress in the Northern Ireland deadlock over the devolution of policing and justuce on the agenda.

The British and Irish Council, which was set up under the Good Friday agreement, will be meeting in the at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, where the Taoiseach will be leading a delegation from the Irish Government.

The council is made up of British and Irish governments together with the devolved governments, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

But until the very last minute, there was uncertainty over whether Sinn Fein and the DUP would even show up, due to their current disagreement.

However, the decision to attend represents hope for progress on the controversial issue of devolving policing and justice structures to the Stormont Assembly, along with a number of other issues.

The powers were due to be transferred last May, but was blocked by the DUP, claiming more time is needed to gain confidence in the IRA's future intentions.

The recent findings by the Independent Monitoring Commission, said "the Army Council by deliberate choice is no longer operational or functional", but the DUP remain concerned that the council has not been officially disbanded.

(DW)

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