Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland and IDS.
Northern Ireland
Questioned again about how much information General de Chastelain had given over to the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach regarding the latest act of IRA decommissioning, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) reminded journalists that, as the Prime Minister had stated during PMQs last week, General de Chastelain had given him "certain information, not the full information" about the issue. He had also said in his press conference last Thursday that "We do know a certain amount of the particulars, yes." The Taoiseach, too, had said that the General had "given us a fair amount of the detail of it". As we had underlined on several occasions yesterday, the Prime Minister had had good reason to say what he had said in the House. The General’s statement about decommissioning had clearly been very short, so the fact that he had had an hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach showed that they had obviously talked about something. Asked if the Prime Minister intended to respond to the criticism levelled at him about this matter, the PMOS said that if the Prime Minister was asked about the issue tomorrow at PMQs, then no doubt he would respond. However, the Northern Ireland Minister, Jane Kennedy, had answered the question yesterday in the House, as indeed he had done at briefings.
IDS
Asked if the Prime Minister had any message of support for the Opposition Leader, the PMOS said that tomorrow’s vote of confidence was entirely a matter for the Opposition.
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