| Ahern and Blair announce Scotland
talks  By
Niamh Hennessy
THE Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the British Prime Minister Tony
Blair have announced that they will host talks with Northern Ireland’s
political parties next month.
The leaders will meet to discuss the joint strategy aimed at bringing
about the re-establishment of the power-sharing executive at Stormont.
The meetings are due to take place in Scotland and are scheduled to run
from October 11-13.
Mr Ahern said both governments wanted the existing deadline of November
24 to be met.
The Rev Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist leader, gave a gloomy assessment
of the chances of hitting the deadline after meeting Mr Blair in Downing
Street last week. He also told reporters that the planned summit in Scotland
was a waste of money and negotiations should take place in Stormont.
The meeting will follow the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission.
Devolution was suspended in October 2002 over allegations of a Republican
spy ring.
Restoration has since been hampered by a disagreement over whether the
IRA was adhering to a July 2005 pledge to disarm.
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