The SDLP has said it will not sign up to any agreement which does not include North-South bodies with executive functions. A senior party negotiator, Mr Mark Durkan, said new thinking was needed by all sides at the talks to create structures respecting the aspirations of both nationalists and unionists.
Mr Durkan called on other parties to work constructively to reach a settlement which would accommodate all sections of the community. "Parties have to move from agitation to negotiation, from easy demands to hard decisions," he said.
"This involves addressing all three sets of relationships in a way which respects the legitimate aspirations of all sections of our community. North-South bodies will be an essential part of any new deal and they must have a proper executive capacity to act effectively on behalf of all on this island in areas of common interest."
Mr Durkan said it was wrong for some parties to dismiss the propositions tabled on Monday by both governments. "Those saying the paper offers nothing should think again. It offers the basis for negotiation. The SDLP is not seeking a settlement on a plate from the two governments. "We want the opportunity to put our views forward and articulate our own case for a new agreed Ireland. This document is just a first step."
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said yesterday that many republicans had grave reservations about the document. He said there was considerable doubt that it contained the dynamic to achieve the objectives of democracy and a permanent peace. But he added that Sinn Fein would be remaining in the talks.
The Republican Sinn Fein president, Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh, said that any settlement based on the proposals would offer less than the Sunningdale Agreement. "CrossBorder bodies will not have executive functions and in taking decisions will be accountable to Stormont with its unionist majority and Leinster House respectively.
"Therefore such bodies, deprived of the power and dynamic to do so, cannot evolve into eventual all-Ireland organs of government. No new Ireland can grow from such a set-up, regardless of the passage of time," he said.
The Alliance Party called on the British government to publish the Heads of Agreement paper and distribute it as widely as possible. A spokesman, Dr Philip McGarry, said: "This document has the potential to win widespread support from across the public spectrum, both North and South."