Dublin reaction:DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley's declaration yesterday afternoon that he would share power with Sinn Féin has provided the clarity necessary for the St Andrews Agreement to work, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.
Although he had been downbeat following Dr Paisley's contribution in Stormont yesterday morning, Mr Ahern was considerably more optimistic last evening following Dr Paisley's statement that he would accept the nomination to become first minister if Sinn Féin signed up to accepting policing and the rule of law.
Asked if he had got the clarity he needed, Mr Ahern, speaking to journalists in Dublin at 4pm yesterday, said: "Yes, I have, yes." It had not been clear "what the position was" following Dr Paisley's statement in the Assembly, "but things have moved on", Mr Ahern said.
The attempt by an armed man to enter the Stormont parliament building had "been a sober reminder that some want to bring Northern Ireland back to darker days.
"There can be no delay in moving forward. I think the matter is back to where I had hoped it would be this morning. There is clarification on the two issues: power-sharing will happen with the DUP if Sinn Féin deals with the issue of policing.
"We always know that there have been difficulties and tensions, but I am not going to make any comment about any of the internal matters of the DUP. Dr Paisley has made his position clear.
"This morning, I felt and others felt that he wasn't clear. Many of the things he said were positive. Many of the things he said in his contribution were very positive, but he just left a doubt on that early question. He has now clearly clarified that. That's the matter, as far as we are concerned with, dealt with and now we can move forward," he said.
Sinn Féin, he acknowledged, faced difficulties about policing: "I know that that is difficult for Sinn Féin, but they are committed to dealing with that, and I am sure that they will deal with that under their own process. They understand what is necessary. If that happens, the Assembly in transitional form will run, through the Programme for Government Committee, up to the end of January. There will be an election in early March.
"You have to accept in good faith that that was done. Sinn Féin knows that they have to deal in their own process with policing. They know when it has to be.
"There are tensions and difficulties," he went on, "but the position that we have worked for this morning has now been made clear, and as far as the Irish Government is concerned now we can move on."
Earlier, Mr Ahern, in more pessimistic mood, said Dr Paisley had not provided the clarity that had been demanded by the two governments. "I think in an Assembly, a parliamentary Assembly, clarity is a good idea. We didn't get it this morning.
"As far as I am concerned, the issues outstanding are very clear. The first minister and deputy first minister will be Deputy Paisley and Martin McGuinness, and then we'll move forward.
"This is how Tony Blair and I will be reading it. I have just been talking to him . . . We are going to have powersharing in the North. If neither of those issues happen then we will have a real dilemma and we will move on to Plan B. But obviously we hope that we don't. It would have been nice today if we had got clarity. Dr Paisley says he is a man of simple words. And today he wasn't."