BARRING any further attacks by their paramilitary associates, the loyalist fringe parties yesterday seemed assured of continued participation in the multi party talks process which has resumed at Stormont.
Although Mr Robert McCartney repeatedly invoked the tooth fairy, and the Rev Ian Paisley accused British ministers of pussyfooting, the role of the UDP and the PUP was secured for the moment by a combination of procedural punctiliousness and the turning of a blind eye to certain obvious inferences.
As the party delegations arriving at Castle Buildings in Stormont set out their positions on whether the loyalist fringe groupings should be deemed to be in breach of the Mitchell Principles and therefore ejected from the talks, the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, attending a function in Co Derry, revealed his government's line on the issue.
He said there is an agreed rule of procedure at the talks which allows anybody to make a complaint that any party taking part has "flagrantly breached" the Mitchell Principles. They must wait to see whether this procedure would be invoked, he said, indicating it would probably emerge at the first full session of the talks in a fortnight's time.
Asked for his view on the present status of the loyalist ceasefire, he said: "I'm very glad that the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC), so called, has not moved back from the ceasefire which it announced 27 months ago. That distinguishes it from the IRA Command which ended its ceasefire evilly and quite unjustifiably in February of this year."
The DUP leader, Dr Paisley, retorted in Belfast: "Does he think we're fools? Does anybody think that the CLMC is going to accept responsibility for those bombs? They're not going to jeopardise their front men at the table. So that sort of argument shows that he's prepared to pussyfoot."
Mr McCartney, the UK Unionist Party leader, also referred to booby trap bombs placed under the cars of two republicans in recent weeks. "Do you think it was the tooth fairy that placed the bombs?" he asked the press. "Do you think it is a band of tooth fairies which are breaking legs and crucifying people throughout Northern Ireland?"
Both the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party, however, bluntly pointed to the disastrous scenario that could be created by pushing this issue too far at the moment.
SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said: "If an announcement is made today that the loyalist ceasefire is over, I think there would be an absolute pall of despair over the entire North of Ireland.
"Do people want to talk up a situation where, in effect, the loyalist ceasefire will end? That is something I think the unionist parties should look at very carefully indeed.
"Let us try and create the type of circumstances where everybody is inside at the negotiations, rather than spending the next month debating who will be put out of the negotiations.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, conceded that the general assumption that the loyalist ceasefire was slowly disintegrating was probably true.
However, he said: "Do we actually want to see that ceasefire collapse? Do we want to hasten that process by taking precipitate action against the loyalist parties and throwing them out?" He said he didn't want to do that, "and I think those who are trying to hasten the process should be asked to explain why.
"I want to see that ceasefire made firm and credible and maintained on an honest basis," he said.
The loyalist spokesmen stone walled manfully. Mr Gary McMichael of the UDP maintained that the ceasefire had not been revoked. "My analysis is that the loyalist ceasefire does remain intact," he said. Mr David Ervine, of the PUP, echoed that line.
Lord Alderdice, the Alliance Party leader, said: "Whether the loyalists are in or whether they are out, Paisley and McCartney don't want the talks to work anyway, and that is the key problem.
Sinn Fein's national chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, criticised Sir Patrick Mayhew's refusal "to publicly acknowledge what is clearly evident to everyone - that the loyalist ceasefire is over". He said it indicated the British government's determination to operate "a policy of unilateral exclusion against Sinn Fein."
Remarks by the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, in a morning radio interview, were "spin doctored" by some of yesterday's players, who sought to imply he had declared the loyalist ceasefire over.
However, Mr Flanagan had merely offered the conclusion that the recent booby trap bombs were the work of extreme loyalist elements - he did not name them, or offer any opinion on whether the CLMC had sanctioned them.
Mr Flanagan had a grim message, however, which put the verbal jousting into perspective. He predicted the IRA would step up its campaign of violence, and warned that each IRA attack increased the likelihood of a full resumption of the loyalist campaign.
In the final analysis, all that was clear after yesterday's opening broadsides outside the talks venue was that if any of the parties wishes to follow through on their case against the loyalist participants, they would have to do, so by formally lodging a complaint at the plenary talks session on January 27th.
The Independent Chairman, Mr George Mitchell, would invite the opinions of the other parties, and allow the UDP and PUP to make a case in reply. He would then if pressed by the complainant, pass the matter to the two governments, for an adjudication.