Talks to salvage the peace process are to be held later this week under the auspices of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Northern Secretary, the Northern Ireland Office has confirmed.
The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, said he was "not over optimistic that the outstanding circles can be squared in time", but the negotiations were the only way of avoiding fresh Assembly elections caused by the resignation of the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, at the weekend. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Dr Reid would not be drawn on whether the British government would prefer to suspend the institutions than hold Assembly elections, as thought by political observers, if no resolution of the constitutional impasse is achieved in the next six weeks. "The constitutional position is that following the resignations of the First Minister and, consequently, the Deputy First Minister, I am obliged to call elections in six weeks' time. I can't leave it eight or 12 weeks or six months," Dr Reid said.
"If in the intervening period there are extraordinary circumstances, such as we can't envisage at the moment, obviously there is the option of suspension.
"But my first preference is to see the agreement implemented, in other words, to reach an agreement during that period that would avoid going into either suspension or elections," he said. No details of the time-scale and location of this week's talks were available yesterday, and the North's pro-agreement parties confirmed that they had not yet been contacted by Mr Cowen's office or the Northern Ireland Office to set up meetings.
It is believed, however, that the talks could start on Thursday and are likely to involve the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach at a later stage, possibly at the start of next week. While the parties have until August 11th to choose a new First and Deputy First Minister, both governments are thought to be keen to bring the negotiations to a conclusion before July 12th, the climax of the Northern marching season. An Ulster Unionist spokesman said yesterday his party had not been given any indication of the details of the talks and refused to speculate on whether any movement would be possible in the coming weeks, saying negotiations were "at too delicate a stage" to make any assumptions. While being "cautiously optimistic", an SDLP spokesman said the backdrop of loyalist attacks and the impending marching season were currently contributing to a feeling of instability. The SDLP did not believe that fresh Assembly elections would be helpful, he added. The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said his party would enter the negotiations "in good faith", but added that the onus was firmly on Mr Blair to move on the issues of policing and demilitarisation. "Sinn Fein will do our best in the short term and will continue to do our best in the longer term to be part of resolving all these matters, including a decent and proper equitable foundation for a new dispensation," Mr Adams said, "but we cannot do it on our own, and the British government needs to understand that days when nationalist rights were filtered through a unionist prism are over."