Ireland Agrees to Reconsider Ulster Claim/BT Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: "Jay Dooling" Ireland agrees to reconsider Ulster claim Electronic Telegraph, 21 October 1997, Issue 880 By Toby Harnden, Ireland Correspondent THE Irish government agreed to consider renouncing its territorial claim on Ulster yesterday after Unionists walked out of talks in protest at the Dublin delegation's "intransigence" on the issue. The U-turn by David Andrews, the new Irish foreign minister, meant that Unionists appeared to edge closer to securing a commitment that the removal of articles two and three - which claim the north as part of Ireland - from the Irish constitution would be put to a referendum in May. Unionists will now consider returning to the "strand two" talks on the relationship between the Irish Republic and Ulster next week, if the Irish government makes the pledge in writing. In May, Tony Blair said the removal of the articles "must be part of a settlement and it would be a help as a confidence-building step in advance of it". But Mr Andrews told Ulster Unionist Party delegates yesterday that the Irish constitution had "stood the test of time" and could not be amended this side of a settlement. The UUP delegation, led by John Taylor, the party's chief negotiator and deputy leader, withdrew from the talks while the Irish government reconsidered. Ken Maginnis, UUP security spokesman, claimed that "articles two and three are most dubious in terms of international law". He said: "They must, at the very least, be put to the people of the Irish Republic in a referendum at the same time as they vote on a Northern Ireland settlement. We appear to have an agreement that this will happen." Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness and Pat Doherty, who were at the negotiating table with the UUP, said they supported the Irish government's initial position and invited the UUP to agree to a united Ireland. In a statement afterwards, Mr Andrews said: "As the negotiations progress, we will discuss proposals for change in the Irish constitution as part both of balanced constitutional change and of an overall agreement." Meanwhile, Lord Alderdice, leader of the moderate Alliance party, called on Mary McAleese, the favourite to win the Irish presidential election, to withdraw following allegations that she was a Sinn Fein sympathiser. But Mrs McAleese, pro-vice chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, said yesterday: "I am not and I have never been a supporter of Sinn Fein, and I am strongly opposed to the use of violence." My role in the peace process grows out of a love of the people of Northern Ireland and the people of this island." Jay Dooling (jdooling@worldnet.att.net) Irish Aires - 90.1FM KPFT in Houston http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Irish_Aires/homepage.htm Dooling & Mabe, CPA http://www.doolingmabe-cpa.com/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-10.21.97-17:18:17-106