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Gerry Adams tells Theresa May DUP deal puts her in breach of Good Friday Agreement

Tom Peck
Thursday 15 June 2017 13:04 EDT
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Sinn Fein claim Theresa May was in 'direct breach' of Good Friday Agreement

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Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams has said he told Theresa May that she is in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Adams, who is President of Sinn Fein, met the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street along with other senior figures in the party.

In a statement to reporters outside afterwards, Mr Adams said: "We told her very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement, and we itemised those matters in which she was in default in relation to that agreement."

He confirmed they had also discussed the possibility of a referendum on Irish unity.

Ms May is currently engaged in talks with the Democratic Unionist Party over a so-called "confidence and supply" arrangement that give the Conservatives a majority in the House of Commons and the ability to form a government.

It has long been speculated that such an agreement would leave the government in breach of its duties under the Nothern Irish power sharing arrangement, signed on Good Friday in 1998.

That agreement assigns the British government the role of broker between Irish republicans and unionists, a role that Mr Adams said would be compromised if the government was in some way indebted politically to the DUP.

Northern Ireland voted by a narrow margin to remain in the European Union. The possibility of the re-establishing of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland as a consequence of the UK's decision to leave the EU is among the first items UK and EU negotiators have agreed to discuss when talks begin next week.

Northern Ireland is currently without a government, after a surge in support for Sinn Fein at Northern Irish Assembly elections earlier this year left nationalist parties holding a majority over unionist ones the first time.

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