WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Irish political leaders responded Friday to the shock victories of hard-liners in Northern Ireland's Assembly elections.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the victory of the hard-line Protestant Democratic Unionist Party led by the Rev. Ian Paisley would not force any re-negotiation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which mandated power-sharing between the province's Protestant and Catholic communities along clearly defined lines.
The DUP is now the largest party in the Assembly with 30 seats out of 108. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, made the same point.
But the 77-year-old Paisley again ruled out any power-sharing with Sinn Fein, which rose to 24 seats from 18, displacing the more moderate Social and Democratic Labor Party in the Catholic community.
Moderate Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the 1998 pact, said another election would probably have to be held soon. The British government is expected to maintain its own Direct Rule over Northern Ireland for several years to come following the vote.
