Paisley Says Irish Republic Should Have No Say in Talks on North
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland met leaders of the Protestant Unionist majority Friday for talks that could present the best chance of peace in 70 years.
On the eve of talks with Peter Brooke, veteran Unionist Ian Paisley ruled out any say for the independent Irish Republic on the internal affairs of Northern Ireland, which has been under direct rule from London for 17 years.
Brooke, aiming to establish a local power-sharing government, looks set to achieve the seemingly impossible next Tuesday when the Protestant leaders are scheduled to meet those of the nationalist Roman Catholic minority.
The Unionist groups, arriving early at Belfast’s Stormont Parliament building, made no comment to journalists. They went into party meetings before seeing Brooke.
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the guerrilla Irish Republican Army, has been excluded from the talks, but the party’s agreement on any pact emerging from the initiative will have to be won before Northern Ireland can enjoy lasting peace.
The discussions could become the most significant to have taken place in Ireland since the partition of the island in 1921 into an independent republic and a British-ruled north.
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