THE multi-party talks have ground to a pre-election adjournment in an atmosphere of frustration, recrimination and some qualified expectation that progress might be made when they resume in three months.
The mood was gloomy at Castle Buildings, Stormont, yesterday as the British and Irish Governments, the three independent chairmen and the nine parties adjourned the talks until June 3rd in order to allow for the British general election and local elections.
The Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, conceded that little progress was made during the talks, while the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, used yesterday's session to make a bitter attack on Mr Spring.
The SDLP and Alliance parties blamed the three main unionist parties for the lack of progress while the unionist parties maintained their insistence on decommissioning before talks.
Despite the rows and pessimism, the principal chairman, Mr George Mitchell, attempted to instil some degree of hope and optimism to a process which during nine months succeeded in surmounting only some procedural obstacles, but failed to tackle any substantive matters.
There was no alternative to the talks process, said Mr Mitchell who with the two other chairmen, Mr Harri Holkeri and Gen John de Chastelain, pledged to remain in the talks process.
"I am convinced that the goal (of peace and reconciliation) is worth the effort despite the difficulties. Meaningful and lasting progress is possible," said the former US senator.
The Northern Secretary, who is not contesting the forthcoming British general election, agreed that the talks to date have been slow, tedious and generally unproductive.
The negotiations offered the prospect of a better way of life for Northern Ireland, said Sir Patrick Mayhew. But he warned of possible dangerous consequences if the parties did not move quickly into substantive talks after the elections.
Sir Patrick, despite pressure from unionist parties, refused to declare his position on the future of the Forum, the natural life of which comes to an end on May 31st but which can be reinstated for another year thereafter.
Dr Paisley warned that if the British government tried to terminate the life of the Forum he would not return to the talks.
The DUP leader boasted that he got "under the skin" of Mr Spring. "And he was certainly Spring dicky when I got laid into him" about Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. "It was a very hot exchange and I enjoyed it thoroughly."
Mr Spring denied Dr Paisley's attack had rankled him. The Alliance leader, Lord Alderdice, said Dr Paisley's broadside was "bitter, sectarian, offensive and quite disturbing".
Lord Alderdice was particularly critical of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and its leader, Mr David Trimble, who he said produced "obstruction after obstruction" to the talks. He believed Mr Trimble wanted to "unstitch" the three-stranded negotiating process agreed by his predecessor, Sir James Molyneaux.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, accused Mr Trimble of adopting a "bad faith" approach to the talks. "What we have witnessed has been a process of procrastination by the main unionist parties over a range of essentially procedural matters," he said.
Spokesmen for the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party and Progressive Unionist Party said that despite the suspicion that the UVF was responsible for planting a bomb near the Sinn Fein offices in Monaghan earlier this week, they believed the loyalist ceasefire had not ended.
