Mr David Trimble seems set to step up his protest action against Sinn Fein, casting next week's planned meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Dublin in doubt. The SDLP has moved to preempt any unionist attempt to force a further suspension by placing "the protection of the institutions" set up under the Belfast Agreement alongside decommissioning, demilitarisation and policing as issues to be resolved in the talks.
This became clear last night as the First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader appeared to pour cold water on a proposal by the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, for an urgent conference of pro-agreement parties, to be convened by the British and Irish governments.
Speaking after his party's meeting with the British Prime Minister in London yesterday, the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, echoed the Taoiseach's view about the growing urgency of the situation, saying the parties had about a week left in which to try to resolve the outstanding issues.
Mr Trimble emerged from his talks with Mr Blair to turn the heat on the SDLP over policing. At the same time, usually reliable sources suggested a threatened UUP boycott could force Dublin to reschedule the March 2nd plenary session of the North-South council.
The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, will discuss the SDLP proposal with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, in Dublin today. And Mr Hume and Mr Mallon will press their case for a roundtable summit in separate talks with the Minister.
However, Mr Trimble gave the idea a dusty response, without absolutely ruling out his party's participation should the two governments take up the idea. He said: "I would remind Mr Hume that last week Bertie Ahern said the time for hard decisions had come. There is no disguising the need for those hard decisions, and I don't see how starting a fresh round of discussions would make taking those decisions any easier."
Earlier, Mr Trimble claimed "prevarication by nationalists regarding the police is undermining morale within the force".
Mark Brennock and Ciaran Brennan add: With the North's nationalist parties under intense pressure to accept what is being offered in relation to police reform, SDLP and Sinn Fein leaders will separately meet Mr Ahern and Mr Cowen at Government Buildings in Dublin early this afternoon.
Mr Ahern told the Dail on Tuesday he believed there was little more than a week left to reach agreement, but that he thought 90 per cent of a final deal was now in place.
While any deal will involve IRA commitments to put weapons beyond use and British government commitments to scale down its military presence in south Armagh, recent talks have concentrated almost exclusively on police reform.
Dr Reid has defended plans to proceed with a recruitment plan for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. On his first visit to Dublin as Secretary of State, he said recruitment was necessary because of the numbers leaving the RUC.
In a speech to business leaders from both sides of the Border at the IBEC/CBI dinner, Dr Reid said genuine progress has been made in talks among the parties. By the end of March 500 officers will have left and another 750 by the same time next year, he said. "I had to face the fact that, if I didn't do it, then next year we would be facing a situation in which we would not have enough officers to meet the minimum number recommended by Patten. We would have to deploy the army, which would go against everything we are trying to do," he said.