UK to seize control in N. Ireland

MitchSchaft

MitchSchaft

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65563,00.html


BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Britain will strip power from local Catholic and Protestant politicians within hours and resume sole responsibility for running Northern Ireland, the British governor announced Monday.


Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said the order to suspend the authority of Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration and legislature would take effect at midnight (7 p.m. EDT) and last indefinitely. He defended his intervention as essential to prevent the collapse of the coalition, which has taken years of negotiations to forge and sustain.

"It has become clear that decisive action is needed to safeguard the progress made," Reid told reporters at Hillsborough Castle, his state residence outside Belfast.



AP
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams
Reid's decision followed a threat by the major Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, to withdraw from power-sharing -- the key goal of the Good Friday peace pact of 1998 -- because of alleged Irish Republican Army spying.

First Minister David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists and the local administration, had set Tuesday as a deadline for Britain to intervene.

Trimble had pressed in vain for Reid to expel Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party, rather than to take power away from all four parties in the coalition. But Trimble said he accepted Reid's move as "a poor second best," and offered to resume cooperation with Sinn Fein if the IRA disbanded.

Four people, including Sinn Fein's top legislative aide, are behind bars awaiting trial for espionage-related charges following police raids Oct. 4. The suspects are accused of stealing documents from Reid's office that allegedly include details of potential IRA targets and records of talks between Britain and other key parties.

Reid said the accusations against Sinn Fein had damaged Protestant confidence, but kicking out any party now would be premature.

He expressed hope that negotiations in coming months would rebuild trust, particularly between the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, and allow Britain to restore power to locals before elections to Northern Ireland's legislature next May.

In remarks apparently addressing the IRA-Sinn Fein movement, he emphasized, "The time has come for people to face up to that choice between violence and democracy."

Britain's move means the 108-member legislature will no longer convene. Instead Reid, a Scotsman appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2000, will oversee the administration's 12 departments with help from a beefed-up contingent of lawmakers from London.

Reid indicated he planned to consult regularly with the powerless administration's top two figures -- Trimble and the Catholic deputy leader, Social Democratic and Labor Party chief Mark Durkan -- to promote continuity and keep government disruption to a minimum.
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not the first time and not the last time. the power-sharing government has been stopped like this before, it allows breathing space without breaking up the new system. the evidence is quite compelling, it might take charges being brought or the trial to take place to tip the hand of ira-sinn fein.
realistically they have shot themselves in the foot. and in this new anti-terrorist world the ira are increasingly out on a limb. this action could spell their end.

the wording is very inflamatory though. 'sieze' control? no, the uk government is returning direct rule rather than devolved power. 'strip power', well sort of, it takes power from the devolved politicians, northern ireland still has representatives at westminster and always has.
technically the westminster government always had full control, the devolved government has very few powers.
 
The families finally getting back together again :toast: Yaaaaaaaayy! :toast:

Enough Ahebban it's time...MAY-xuhn
Plenty of other worries ahead.
 
Is North Ireland the same as Republic of Ireland (in which case it might be bad if the UK takes control of it)

If it isn't Republic of Ireland then......isn't Ireland already part of the UK?? :confuse3:
 
Luis G said:
Is North Ireland the same as Republic of Ireland (in which case it might be bad if the UK takes control of it)

If it isn't Republic of Ireland then......isn't Ireland already part of the UK?? :confuse3:
Click to expand...
No. Ireland is Ireland, a separate country and island. However the northern part of the island is under British rule. And thats the part where people throw rocks at each other.

The Irish were Catholic. Traditional British conquest methods involved moving a lot of Protestant men in to marry, and subdue the locals. So now you have Protestants and Catholics, all fighting. If the British didn't do that a long time ago, they wouldn't have this problem.
 
(thx for the explaining, i forgot which Ireland was independent of the UK)
 
lastlegionary is right, northern ireland is part of britain, ruled from westminster. the republic is known as eire and is a seperate country. until 1916 [i think it was] the whole of ireland was part of the uk.

the problems that are there now are part of 200+ years of hate and division. both sides have commited terrible atrocities in th name of their cause. the recent peace and relative stability have still been marred by secterian punishment beatings and lower-scale violence. it had been threatening to lead to suspension of the power-sharing executive for a while, the accusations and arrests of sinn-fein/ira members has sped this up.
 
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