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Hillary Clinton in last ditch bid to save Irish peace talks

By
PATRICK ROBERTS,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Sunday, January 24, 2010, 7:10 AM
Updated Sunday, January 24, 2010, 7:15 AM

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Hillary Clinton is on standby to help it the talks stall.
Hillary Clinton is on standby to help it the talks stall.


Hillary Clinton's special envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, is making a last ditch bid to save the Northern Ireland assembly from possible collapse.

Kelly has been in Northern Ireland at Secretary of State Clinton's bidding, holding talks with Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party even as the talks threatened to collapse.

Irishcentral.com understands that Mrs. Clinton herself is on standby to help if the talks continue to prove inconclusive and the future of the Northern Ireland Assembly comes directly into question.

"Mrs Clinton has spent enormous efforts to try and make this peace agreement work. She is willing and able to go the extra mile to help now in this latest crisis," said a Washington source.

 The dramatic US intervention helped stave off an imminent breakdown yesterday when Sinn Fein agreed to make one more concerted effort to save the talks by having Deputy First Minster Martin McGuinness meet with First Minister  Peter Robinson one more time. The two and their negotiating teams have been locked in discussion for the past week but no resolution has emerged.

Sinn Fein held a party meeting yesterday where it was expected they would leave Northern Ireland's government because of the refusal of the Unionist partnership to accept the devolving of police and justice issues to the Northern Ireland assembly, as had been agreed.

However, after the meeting Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president revealed the party was not walking away. Speaking to the press in Dublin, he said the  meeting between McGuinness and Robinson would be “a critical and defining engagement.”

On Friday night  McGuinness had spoken with representatives of the British and Irish governments, Adams said. “But let me say this,” he continued. “The governments are not referees in this. The governments are guarantors with responsibilities and obligations.”

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13 Comments

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avemaria | Jan 26, 2010, 07:27 PM EST
now Hillary can say , legitimately, that she played a role in the Northern Ireland Peace Process and not be mocked as she was during her campaign for the prsidential nomination

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IrishAndProud | Jan 26, 2010, 02:54 AM EST
Not at all, plasticpaddy. What is backwards and usleless in today's world (and at ANY time in history, for that matter) is a nation throwing open its borders and being overrun by foreigners. That's national SUICIDE. If defending a sovereign nation's borders, language and culture (not to mention respecting the rule of law) means that certain people cannot be allowed into a country -- or to remain in it -- so be it. Ireland cannot just welcome endless people in from incompatible cultures and expect to remain Ireland. Ireland will cease to exist, if they do that. That would no longer be Ireland, but multi-culti chaos (if you'll pardon the redundancy).

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plasticpaddy | Jan 25, 2010, 10:59 PM EST
I disagree, Ireland 'shall shelter the despot and the slave' remember that anyone? its our national anthem, maybe take a look at it and stop preaching racial/national segregation and isolationist policies. Backward and useless in todays world

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IrishAndProud | Jan 25, 2010, 03:37 PM EST
Here is a link to another article here on Irishcentral, where I've commented on illegals in the USA. My post is the very first one, so you'll need to scroll all the way down to the bottom to see it: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-immigration-center-takes-Murphy-to-task-over-No-amnesty-for-illegals-82411147.html?commentspage=1

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IrishAndProud | Jan 25, 2010, 03:32 PM EST
barneyjo, I agree completely: Irish illegals (or ANY illegals) have no business in the USA, either. If you've at all followed any of my posts on this matter, you would know that. I'm simply saying that the same thing should be done in Ireland, also.

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barneyjo | Jan 25, 2010, 05:43 AM EST
Do either of you live on the same planet as the rest of us? If you wish to follow the argument of throwing "illegals" out of Ireland, then Irish undocumented "Illegals" have no business being in the USA or anywhere else. Sauce for the Goose etc......!!!

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IrishAndProud | Jan 25, 2010, 02:21 AM EST
I certainly agree, Ireland for the Irish, Ireland Forever. I'd misunderstood your previous post -- again, my apologies. I'd certainly like to see all illegals deported from Ireland; the current economic slump has seen a lot of foreigners leave again but a lot of illegals remain. Of course, Ireland on its worst day is better than their countries on their best day, but that's still no excuse for their presence, there. The Irish government -- and its people -- need to say collectively: no more illegal entry into Eire, and further ALL those who are already here illegally need to leave, and leave NOW! Jobs -- and dole money -- are scarce enough as it is, and besides it's not right to be in Eire illegally, regardless.

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MAGHNUS | Jan 24, 2010, 10:54 PM EST
IrishandProud:The "catholic church" has always been the reference if ever anyone were to say "the church", and as for illegal immigrants, all of them. Also, the only reason that there is sarcasm at all is because we don't live in a picture perfect world and therefore things will never happen the way we want them to or believe they should be...but in truth, like I said, english, illegal immigrants, child-molesting "catholic" church need to just run down the beach, dive into the water, and with any luck, they'll face-plant into a underwater rock and kill themselves. Ireland for the Irish, Ireland Forever.

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IrishAndProud | Jan 24, 2010, 09:12 PM EST
Maghnus: My apologies to you, if you were being sarchasic and I misunderstood.

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IrishAndProud | Jan 24, 2010, 08:35 PM EST
Maghnus wrote: "Ireland doesn't need peace talks; they just need the English to leave, and take their illegal immigrants and child molesting "church" with them." ....Uh, Maghnus, which 'illegal immigrants' are you referring to? The Asians and Africans who wander all about Ireland these days...on the dole, no less (at a time when Ireland can least afford it, anyway)? And...which church do you refer to? Last I looked (and I'm not making the case for either belief system here; I'm merely stating a fact), it wasn't the Prods who had the major child-molestation problem in Ireland. Where have you been, the last several years?

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olovely | Jan 24, 2010, 11:06 AM EST
Peter Robinson needs to grasp that the days of unionist majority rule are over for good. When he acts like this you have to wonder what the last 40 years have taught him.

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Watchman | Jan 24, 2010, 10:08 AM EST
Let's hope Declan Kelly can knock some sense into Sinn Fein and the DUP over the next couple of days. And let's hope specifically, that police and justice powers are devolved to the power-sharing administration some time over the next six months. But am I the only one to have detected a harsh, bullying aspect in Sinn Fein's current tactic? Gerry Adams in particular – desperate, I would say, to show that he is still relevant despite his family difficulties and his last five years passed posturing around the world – seems ready to pull down the entire edifice of power sharing if he doesn't get his way, and get it NOW. It's time the new generation of SF politicians stood up to him and suggested he retire to write his memoirs. The same goes for the clique surrounding him. They don't understand politics; their only skill lies in maximising their vote. Leave it to Martin McGuinness – the only one among them who has grown up and adapted to democracy. As for the DUP, it's time they went back to their wacky church and left more sensible, more flexible Unionists to speak for the Protestant community. Irish unity is coming, but not yet. It is still some way off. Those Unionists who opt for a practical, pragmatic way forward, in which they prepare the ground for a long-term settlement that protects their people, will be fondly regarded by history.

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MAGHNUS | Jan 24, 2010, 08:01 AM EST
Ireland doesn't need peace talks; they just need the English to leave, and take their illegal immigrants and child molesting "church" with them.

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