Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TV LET’S DANCE
Arlene insists DUP ready for power-sharing tango and to cut deal with Tories
ARLENE Foster said yesterday she is ready to form a coalition with the Tories and do a deal with Sinn Fein on power-sharing.
And the DUP leader is also championing a “sensible Brexit” which could spare Northern Ireland the worst repercussions of leaving the EU. Speaking after meeting new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin, Ms Foster said: “It takes two to tango and we’re ready to dance.” In response Gerry Adams quipped: “Perhaps we should start a cross-border pilates party.” He added: “We’re in here to get these institutions back in place and we just need to move beyond the rhetoric.”
It takes two to tango and we’re ready to dance ARLENE FOSTER DUBLIN YESTERDAY
SINN Fein and the Democratic Unionists yesterday agreed a deal to restore a power-sharing administration can be done by the end of the month. But speaking after a meeting with new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, DUP leader Arlene Foster said it was down to the republican party whether an agreement is reached. She added: “It takes two to tango and we’re ready to dance.” Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing Executive since March and without a first and deputy first minister since January after Sinn Fein collapsed the administration amid faltering trust and relations with the DUP. Talks to restore confidence took a back seat in recent days as the political focus largely shifted to London and the DUP’S deal to prop up the Conservatives at Westminster. But Stormont parties have a June 29 deadline to end the impasse and reach consensus on re-establishing a devolved administration. Standing outside government buildings in Dublin, Mrs Foster said: “We want to see an administration set up again that will last and one that will last for all of the people of Northern Ireland. We will go in to speak with Sinn Fein again on Monday morning to try and get that set up as quickly as possible because devolution works and works for everybody in Northern Ireland. “I think it is very much doable to have a deal by the end of this month.” Sinn Fein’s Stormont leader Michelle O’neill, who was also in Dublin for a meeting with Mr Varadkar, struck an optimistic tone, saying: “We remain fully committed to making the institutions work. We also respect the other parties’ mandates. We want to get back to an Executive that has all the parties around the table to collectively take decisions. I think it is all very doable.” Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the party would be pushing Mr Varadkar to raise the prospect of a border poll on Irish reunification within five years in discussions with the British Government. On his talks in London with Theresa May on Thursday, he added Sinn Fein had offered an “Irish solution to an English problem” by giving Northern Ireland special EU status after Brexit to keep an open border on the island. Meanwhile, Mrs Foster dismissed suggestions her deal with the Tories threatened the peace process. She said: “There is an irony to being lectured by some about our role in the national Government of the United Kingdom when Sinn Fein want to be in government here in the Republic of Ireland.” She added the DUP wanted to see “a sensible Brexit and one that works for everybody”.