MR DAVID TRIMBLE has said he is doubtful if all party talks will begin before the end of the year. However, the Ulster Unionist Party leader believes there will be elections to a new assembly in the North by this spring.
Mr Trimble told yesterday's Belfast Telegraph that the British and Irish governments' hopes of reestablishing inclusive talks by the end of February were unrealistic.
"The notion of all the parties sitting around the table at the same time is a little far fetched and fanciful at the moment. I'm not sure whether the conditions will be right for that to happen this year.
"The situation is also complicated by the fact that the further we get into 1996 the more the shadow of elections in both jurisdictions, Westminster and the Republic, will loom."
He suspected that, from early summer, the prospects of those elections would close down options "for" movement. "For that reason, I am doubtful if we will see the beginning of an all party talks process in 1996."
And even then he saw difficulties with his party engaging directly with Sinn Fein. "Political" negotiations will only occur when the circumstances are right and one of those circumstances is the issue of peaceful intent and a commitment to exclusively peaceful means.
"There are also other matters that will have to be settled, such as the format for those negotiations. There would be considerable problems about face to face contact with some of the individuals concerned."
He did not accept that the IRA ceasefire had paved the way for him to talk with Sinn Fein. "When I consider the number of paramilitary beatings that have taken place since my election, and the fact that there have been a series of murders everyone knows were carried out by the IRA I can see no evidence of a commitment to peace."
Mr Trimble said he was confident that elections to a new assembly or constitutional convention would soon take place."I think elections to such a body could happen as early as spring.
Mr Trimble earlier echoed a warning by his deputy, Mr John Taylor, in yesterday's Irish Times, that the British government could not automatically count on the support of the nine Ulster Unionist MPs.
"There's no automatic commitment. The Ulster Unionists position is and always has been we look at most issues on their merits. Obviously, issues of confidence raise different considerations," he told Channel Four News.
However, he stressed the debate was "academic" at this stage because the British government still had a Commons majority.
He also hinted that his party might not back the government over the Scott report, due out in the next few months.
