POWER-SHARING PROSPECT

by RAY FLEMING
IF agreement is not reached next week on the resumption of devolved government in Northern Ireland the blame will rest with only one person: the Rev. Ian Paisley. Yesterday's report by the Independent Monitoring Commission gave the IRA and Sinn Fein a virtually clean bill of heath in respect of their rejection of violence as a political weapon. Specificaly, the report said that the key parts of the IRA's structure have been dismanted or substantially reduced and that its leadership is ”clamping down” on criminal activity by its members. It also said that Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, has lived up to his promise that the armed struggle was over. Some months ago the British and Irish governments set November 24 as a final deadline by which the elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly must agree to resume power–sharing government which has been suspended for more than two years because of Ian Paisley's unwillingness to co–operate with Gerry Adams. Next week in Scotland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern are holding a summit with the Northern Ireland leaders to urge them to take this last chance for self–government. Will Mr Paisley and his majority Democratic Unionist Party realise that their obstructionist game is finally up? Mr Paisley's reaction to yesterday's report was to take credit for Sinn Feinn's and the IRA's commitment to political progress. That's nonsense, of course, but if it helps him to agree to the deal, never mind.