THE Tanaiste yesterday called the leadership of Sinn Fein "consider their position" in the wake of Mr Major's article in The Irish Times.
Mr Spring described it as "an other important building block in what we are trying to achieve ... I felt the reassurances given by Mr Major should be adequate to get the ceasefire reinstated".
He rejected Sinn Fein suggestions that what would take place on June 10th would not be the first, day of all party talks but a decommissioning conference. "We are not going to have a decommissioning conference because the Irish and British governments know well that a decommissioning conference offers no prospect" of political progress.
Sinn Fein should consider its position because "they are the ones who begged for a fixed date for all party talks. We have a fixed date ... I believe the Sinn Fein leadership should now consider that.
Mr Spring said he had already suggested a method of dealing with arms decommissioning discussing it in a "fourth strand" of discussions parallel to the substantive discussions in the other three strands. He was willing to consider other proposals, he said.