Ulster peace talks collapse

Press, 27 March 1980, Page 8

Ulster peace talks collapse

NZPA London A conference to try to get Northern Ireland Protestants and Roman Catholics to work together has been abandoned after thq factions failed to agree on sharing power in the province. The British Government announced that Humphrey Atkins, Britain’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, had adjourned indefinitely the 11-week-old Belfast constitutional conference on the future; of the strife-torn province. The biggest Protestant party, the official Unionists, boycotted the talks. The conference collapsed when the Rev. lan Paisley,, fiery leader of the Protestant, Democratic Unionist Party, and John Hume, head of the predominantly Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party, could not agree on sharing power. Official sources said the Prime Minister (Mrs Marga*'

ref Thatcher), under mounting diplomatic pressure from the Irish Republic to. find a political solution in Northern Ireland, is expected to formulate proposals for limited self-rule for jthe province.The Government is expected to publish its proposals this Summer. There is speculation it will include a proposal for elections for a provincial assembly with limited powers by March, 19817 . ’

Mr Paisley is demanding the retsoration of'majority government to the province in which the Protestants outnumber the Catholics 2-to-l. Along with most Protestant political leaders, he rejects any sharing of power with the Catholic minority. The British have long contended that only power-shar-ing can produce a political agreement that will end the nearly 11-year-old CatholicProtestant warfare in which at least 2019 persons have died,