The Sinn Féin leadership will today decide its consultation plans for the weeks ahead on the St Andrews Agreement as behind-the-scenes contacts involving British and Irish government officials, the DUP and Sinn Féin take place to try to resolve the pledge of office dispute.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, who is to brief the party's ruling ardchomhairle in Dublin this afternoon on the agreement, will also for the first time meet Church of Ireland bishops in Stormont on Monday, including its primate, Archbishop Robin Eames.
Mr Adams will lead a Sinn Féin delegation including Assembly members Conor Murphy, Caitríona Ruane and Alex Maskey and MEP Mary Lou McDonald in talks with the archbishop and a senior Church of Ireland delegation. The meeting is viewed as part of the careful choreography to try to cement a lasting agreement that would lead to the restoration of devolution. Last week DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley for the first time met the Catholic primate, Archbishop Sean Brady.
"This meeting is an important and significant part of our overall strategy of engagement with the Protestant churches," Mr Adams said yesterday. "I look forward to meeting the archbishop to brief him on recent developments in the political process and outline what we believe are the necessary next steps as we seek to put back in place the suspended political institutions."
He added: "The churches have an important role to play in shaping a new shared future for all of the people who live here and I hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a dialogue between ourselves and the Church of Ireland in the time ahead."
One of the key issues on the agenda is expected to be Sinn Féin support for policing. As part of the St Andrews Agreement, Sinn Féin is expected to hold an ardchomhairle to call a special ardfheis on whether to endorse the PSNI. A Sinn Féin spokesman said today's ardchomhairle would not organise an ardfheis at this stage. Rather, Mr Adams would outline what was negotiated at St Andrews and plan how the leadership would consult with republican grassroots on its proposals.
Meanwhile - away from "public megaphone negotiations", as one DUP source described it - British and Irish officials, the DUP and Sinn Féin are attempting to overcome the pledge of office hurdle which forced the postponement of Dr Paisley's scheduled encounter with Mr Adams at Stormont on Tuesday.
Dr Paisley claimed he had a private assurance from British prime minister Tony Blair and his ministers that before he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness would take over the respective posts of first minister and deputy first minister in shadow form on November 24th, Mr McGuinness would commit himself to a pledge of office that required support for policing.
British and Irish sources said the expectation was that such a pledge would be made when devolution went live on March 26th, while Sinn Féin said the St Andrews Agreement made no mention of a pledge on November 24th.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey, whose party has taken strong criticism in recent years from the DUP over its negotiating skills, accused the DUP of blundering in how it handled the St Andrews talks. He challenged Dr Paisley to make public his "written assurances" over the pledge of office.
DUP Assembly member and former Ulster Unionist Arlene Foster said it was "a bit late for the UUP to try to play the tough guy of unionism".
"Unlike the UUP, the DUP has made it perfectly clear that devolved government will not return unless and until there is actual delivery on each of the important issues," she added.
Former UUP MP David Burnside said Ulster Unionists should go into opposition in the Assembly if the St Andrews Agreement was pushed through without radical changes.
