Senior unionists expressed considerable impatience at the slow pace of events at Dublin Castle yesterday. The Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, accused Sinn Fein of wrecking tactics and of turning the proceedings into a farce.
"The day here in Dublin has been a total waste of time, we've lost an entire day," Mr Taylor told reporters. "It looks as if we're going to lose most of Tuesday. It seems to me that Sinn Fein are embarking on a wrecking process for these talks and we must not allow them to achieve that."
He hoped Sinn Fein would ultimately be expelled. "They are turning the visit to Dublin into a farce. Secondly, if the decision goes against them at the talks they will appeal it to some courts and drag it on for more days, perhaps weeks."
He would not remain for the full three days of talks in Dublin.
Asked, as the evening approached, if he was unhappy with the pace, the UUP's chief negotiator, Mr Reg Empey, said: "I am unhappy now. I would have lived with it quite happily until mid-afternoon because I accept that the chairman has things to do and he's got to make sure that what he's doing is fair and reasonable, but I must say I'm getting concerned at the growing delay without any explanation being offered to us."
However, the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was more sanguine about the delay. "I'm not surprised . . . I could well imagine that the chairman would be scrupulously careful, particularly in a context where people are threatening judicial review."
The UUP's Mr Jeffrey Donaldson rejected the view that talks without Sinn Fein were not worthwhile. He said the majority of Northern Ireland people were represented by parties still in the talks "and we've got a responsibility to try and move that process forward."
Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party said the PUP could be the only party with any paramilitary links that was still in the talks. "That seems a bit ironic when we're getting close to May."
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition said it had "several reservations" about the moves to exclude Sinn Fein. The governments were "at the same time playing prosecutor and judge". Second, the credibility of the talks would be jeopardised if there was any suspicion the governments were being influenced by parties threatening to walk out if Sinn Fein were not excluded. Also, to exclude a party which continued to argue its commitment to peaceful negotiation was "to let the men of violence have direct influence on the talks".
It welcomed the return of the Ulster Democratic Party to the talks headquarters at Stormont's Castle Buildings yesterday.