Northern Ireland’s political enemies sat down Tuesday to discuss reviving a joint Roman Catholic-Protestant administration, the central goal of the 1998 peace accord for this British territory. Britain and the Irish Republic hope the coming months of scheduled talks will resurrect power-sharing. But their task appears daunting given the recent triumphs of extremists in Northern Ireland elections: the Democratic Unionists on the British Protestant side of the fence, and Sinn Fein on the Irish Catholic side. As Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley exited Stormont Parliamentary Building, the would-be seat of power in Northern Ireland, he declared that his party would not negotiate with the Irish Republican Army-linked Sinn Fein. Paisley’s negotiating team did break new ground by sitting, for the first time, at the same negotiating table as Sinn Fein — but he insisted this was because the parties only delivered prepared speeches. Full Story
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