The following is a review of June comments from Ireland and Northern Ireland taken from news reports, the Irish American Information Service and Post staffers.

It was a busy month as the British and Irish governments signaled a joint refusal to be deflected from an upbeat approach to the Northern Ireland peace process after their first post-General Election ministerial talks.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen met in Dublin less than a week after confirmation of poll reverses for both the Ulster Unionist Party of Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble and his deputy Seamus Mallon's Social Democratic and Labor Party.

At the end of June, Trimble was re-elected leader of his party with no challenge from anti-Good Friday Agreement members. Despite speculation about a leadership challenge, Trimble remained in power following losses for the Ulster Unionists to the anti-Agreement Democratic Unionist Party in the general and local government elections last month.

And, for more pot-stirring, it's the start of the Orange Order marching season.

"We are all trying to work in partnership for the community, for the betterment of the community but yet we have these dissidents who are still deeply rooted in the past and will not come from that."

Clifford Best, RUC District Commander Superintendent 
June 1, 2001
(Speaking after an explosion outside Sion Mills Royal Ulster Constabulary base near the Co. Tyrone border. The attack was blamed on renegade republican paramilitaries opposed to the peace process.)

"As always my position is up for re-election. I will be offering myself again for that position and if anyone else from within the party wishes to challenge me so be it. That is the democratic wish and mandate of the party. I'm not scared of a challenge. I have been absolutely open with the party through this process."

David Trimble, Ulster Unionist party leader
June 10, 2001
(Seeking re-election as leader of his party, despite mounting pressure following the party's losses in Parliamentary elections.)

"What I was told on the doorstep day after day after day and told on election day was a vote for Ross was a vote for David Trimble and they weren't voting for David Trimble. It was as simple and brutal as that. You could just feel the arctic blast of votes draining away every hour."

William Ross, former Ulster Unionist MP
June 11, 2001
(After losing his East Derry seat to Gregory Campbell of the DUP. Ross was a long-time critic of the Good Friday Agreement who blamed blamed Trimble and his backing of the pact for the loss of his seat in the election, which saw the Ulster Unionists suffer heavily at the hands of Rev. Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionists.)

"We want David Trimble to lead the more progressive elements of his party to recognize that the Agreement is effectively the only way forward."
Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin Mid-Ulster MP
June 12, 2001
(Saying that his party wanted to see Trimble remain as Ulster Unionist leader.)

"(Sinn Féin) is the major voice of republicanism and nationalism in the North and the major voice for neutrality in the South."
Pat Doherty, Sinn Féin vice-president and the newly elected MP for West Tyrone
June 14, 2001
(Talking while Sinn Féin MPs were making their first appearance at Westminster to lobby the British government for use of House of Commons facilities, although they refuse to swear the traditional oath of allegiance to the queen or sit in parliament. Sinn Féin now has four Westminster seats.)

"It is to be regretted that the republican forces of Sinn Féin/IRA attempted to deny us our civil rights,"
Dawson Bailie, Belfast Orange Order Grand Master
June 16, 2001
(Pointing out that the Orange Order should congratulate its members for their "exemplary conduct" despite the fact that violence flared during an Orange parade which marched through a flashpoint area of north Belfast. Loyalist and nationalist crowds clashed as two lodges returned from the main "Tour of the North" march, which is largely seen as the beginning of the summer marching season. Skirmishes broke out as the "feeder parade" passed the nationalist Ardoyne area on the way back to Ligoniel. A Parades Commission ruling had banned the Orangemen from playing music as they passed the shops at Ardoyne. However, the main parade passed off without incident.)

"The State Department sees its goal as protecting people from believing that there is opposition to the peace process in America...there is no reason for the U.S. to claim these are terrorist groups."
Atty. Lynn Bernabei 
June 22, 2001
(Speaking to Jack Flynn of The Irish Voice. Her Washington (D.C.) law firm, Bernabei and Katz, is handling the case of dissident Republican groups challenging the State Department's ruling last month that they are aligned with the Real IRA and therefore banned from any fundraising activity in the U.S. The leadership of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement and the Irish Republican Prisoners' Welfare Association (IRPWA) in the US have said they are in no way affiliated with the Real IRA.)