Northern Ireland’s leaders yesterday announced a hard-fought accord to transfer key remaining powers from London to Belfast, hailed as opening a “new chapter” in the long-troubled province.
Responsibility for police and justice in Northern Ireland will be transferred to Belfast from April 12, they said, flanked by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen, who flew in for the occasion.
“We are closing the last chapter of a long and troubled story and we are opening a new chapter for Northern Ireland,” said Brown, confirming the accord between the Republican Sinn Fein and pro-London Democratic Unionists (DUP).
PHOTO: AFP
The British government has agreed to provide an extra £800 million (US$1.25 billion) to fund the transfer of law and order powers on April 12, he said.
“This agreement is the surest sign that we are not going back to the bad old days of the past,” said DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson, whose party had resisted agreement with Sinn Fein.
The British and Irish leaders rushed to Belfast after the DUP said late on Thursday they had agreed to back a deal with Sinn Fein, their Catholic power-sharing partners.
The breakthrough came after more than a week of often strained negotiations to reach agreement on the policing and justice issue, the last main step in Northern Ireland’s devolution process.
It was feared that failure to reach a deal could lead to the collapse of the fragile power-sharing administration that emerged from the peace process to end three decades of violence.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams hailed the deal as clearing the way for future cooperation.
“This does present a ... wonderful chance now and a new spirit for us all to go forward,” he said.
Shaun Woodward, the British government’s minister in Northern Ireland, said the agreement “will be the last part of a jigsaw that enshrines the peace agreement itself.”
The DUP had delayed an agreement, as hardliners within its ranks demanded special concessions on the policing of Protestant parades that pass near Catholic areas, which often spark confrontations.
Thursday’s breakthrough came a day after Robinson resumed his duties as first minister after being cleared over a sex and funding scandal, a development commentators said had boosted the slow-moving negotiations.
An internal investigation found Robinson had not breached official rules over allegations his wife Iris had secured a £50,000 donation to help her young lover open a cafe.
More than 3,500 people were killed in Northern Ireland in a period known as “The Troubles,” pitting communities supporting and opposing British rule of the province against each other in a bloody campaign of bombings and shootings.
Britain and Ireland helped broker the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of violence and led to the creation of the power-sharing executive.
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