THE Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and Sir Patrick Mayhew have reaffirmed the commitment of the two governments to partnership in the peace process.
Both governments also reaffirmed their commitment to securing all party negotiations "as soon as possible", said the Northern Secretary, following a two hour resumed Anglo Irish InterGovernmental, conference meeting in Dublin.
He accepted the British government had a responsibility to encourage parties to negotiate and to negotiate in a way that would have the best prospect of securing all party negotiations leading to a comprehensive political settlement.
Asked if he believed that all party talks could begin by the end of the month, Sir Patrick said: "We hold to that aim, of course. It can be achieved if the Washington stipulations are fulfilled. They remain, in our view, one of the two ways, the best of the two ways, by which confidence can be achieved.
"At least we believe that it will be possible to secure agreement within that time frame on the way forward."
Was he prepared to urge the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr Trimble, to discuss his ideas for an elected body with the Government?
Sir Patrick said there was much to be gained from people discussing their ideas "with all who have a relevant interest in it".
The holding of an elective process was not within the Government's ability to dispose, he continued.
They could propose it, if they thought that it was right, but the proposal's acceptability would determine whether there would be one or not.
The elected body was not a new idea, Mr Mayhew said, but an idea which the governments had seen, back in November, as being proper within the political track. "I believe that this is a notion which, after initial rejection with some fervour, is now being seen for what it is not a hurdle but a door opening into the conference chamber.
Asked if he agreed with Mr Trimble's position that if there was an election, Washington 3 would still be required down the line, Sir Patrick replied that the Mitchell report said that with the negotiations in train decommissioning should take place in parallel. "We agree with that," he added.
In a separate press conference, Mr Spring announced his proposal for a Dayton type multilateral conference to discuss the way forward in the peace process.
The proposal, which he had advanced at his meeting with Sir Patrick last Thursday, has the potential to bring the parties together in a reasonable way to resolve the conflict between the two scenarios at the present time.
Everyone seemed to have difficulty reconciling elections before negotiations or elections after negotiations, Mr Spring said. A sensible way to proceed, in his view, was to bring all the parties together to discuss all these matters.
There was no agreement on the proposal, he added, but it had been agreed that work would be taken forward on it. He had not discussed the idea with the SDLP or Sinn Fein, since it was a matter for the two governments in the first instance.
Turning to the idea of an elective process, Mr Spring said the nationalist community would want assurances and guarantees that elective process would lead into definite all party negotiations.
They had not reached agreement on an elective process at the meeting, Mr Spring said, and until such time as they had the opportunity of having discussions with those people proposing elections, and the unionist parties, it was unlikely that they would come to any agreement on a broad range of issues.
