N. Irish deal to go ahead

Britain and Ireland said yesterday they would push ahead with plans to restore self-rule in Northern Ireland even though the province's two main parties gave only partial support to the deal by the deadline.

The governments face an uphill battle in keeping to the timetable for devolution because the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein are deadlocked over the key issues of policing and power-sharing.

London and Dublin last month gave the two feuding parties until yesterday to back plans, drawn up after talks in St Andrews, Scotland, for reviving an assembly in which they must share power despite their opposing visions of the future.

"The governments have been in contact with the parties. We are satisfied from these contacts that the St Andrews Agreement, implemented in good faith, represents the basis for a political settlement," the governments said in a joint statement.

"We will now proceed to ensure full implementation of the St Andrews Agreement."

Under the agreement, assembly members must elect a first and deputy-first minister from the two biggest opposing parties to lead the power-sharing executive by November 24 and self-rule will be fully restored by March.

Failure to meet the deadlines will mean continued direct rule from London, but with a greater input from Dublin - a prospect pro-British "unionists" find unpalatable.

The DUP, Northern Ireland's biggest party which wants the province to remain part of the United Kingdom, said on Thursday it would not commit itself to sharing power with its old enemy Sinn Fein until it agreed to support the local police force.