Blair, Ahern Discuss Last - Ditch Peace Plan(for Northern Ireland)

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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-irish.html

Blair, Ahern Discuss Last - Ditch Peace Plan
By REUTERS

Filed at 8:07 a.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) - The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland laid the groundwork on Friday for a meeting next week designed to salvage a deal that shares power in Northern Ireland between the divided Protestant and Catholic communities.

The talks between Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern come ahead of a meeting between Northern Ireland's political leaders on September 16-18 at Leeds Castle in Southern England.

``We believe the ingredients are there for a deal at Leeds Castle so our main emphasis today will be working toward that agreement,'' Blair's spokesman told reporters from Sedgefield, northern England, where Blair hosted Ahern.

London and Dublin have said the Leeds Castle meeting is the last chance to save the historic 1998 Good Friday agreement, which largely ended 30 years of sectarian conflict in the British province.
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