Irish Leaders Meet With New Coalition

Political leaders from both sides of the Irish border cast aside decades of hostility to hold landmark talks designed to seal a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern led his Cabinet into the heart of British-ruled Northern Ireland for a meeting with ministers from the province’s new coalition of Protestants and Roman Catholics. In a day rich in symbolism, Ahern and 24 other ministers from north and south met in the cathedral city of Armagh and launched a North-South Ministerial Council to promote Ireland-wide development, from trade to tourism. The cross-border body is among a range of political initiatives that, after 20 months of paralysis, have given new life to the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, which set up a framework for an end to 30 years of sectarian violence in the province.