The SDLP deputy leader expects the Ulster Unionists will attend the Stormont talks when they resume next month - though he has conceded that they will have difficulties "sitting in the same room as Sinn Fein". In an interview on RTE radio's This Week programme, Mr Seamus Mallon said the SDLP "had to do exactly the same when we went into those talks sitting down with parties that would represent the views of the UDA and the UVF and other paramilitary groupings" on the loyalist side.
"I am more hopeful now that the political imperatives are working in such a way that both unionism and nationalism in its various hues will have to begin to seriously address the problems," he said. But he was unsure whether this could be done within the British government's timescale.
The Ulster Unionists had "a remarkable responsibility on their shoulders at the present moment of time" and he hoped they would realise that "the ballgame has changed completely" with the emergence of new parties to replace the "cosy little cartel" of the past.
Asked about the possibility that his party leader, Mr John Hume, would accept a presidential nomination, Mr Mallon said he was "no wiser" than anyone reading the newspapers, as he had been involved in "absolutely no discussions" with Mr Hume about the matter.
He added that it was "a singular honour for any person on this island to have the opportunity of becoming the first citizen of the nation" because of the "remarkably potent symbol" which the Presidency represented.