The SDLP is more focused on political realignment through a united Ireland than on any post-election link-up with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fáil, its leader insisted today.

Former Government minister Jim McDaid apologised tonight for driving under the influence of alcohol after he was stopped by gardaí.

THE prospects of a bitter referendum on citizenship intensified yesterday when Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte indicated his party would oppose the controversial proposal in its substance as well as its timing.

A CATHOLIC priest caught up in loyalist protests at Holycross Primary School in Belfast has been told he will be killed within days.

Sinn Fein has welcomed moves by loyalist communities in east Belfast to remove sectarian graffiti and paramilitary murals from walls in their areas.

A Socialist Party delegate has told the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin that a proper public housing strategy could help overcome sectarianism and community division in the North.

Fr Aidan Troy, from the Holy Cross parish in Belfast, has revealed he has received two loyalist death threats in recent weeks.

The Forum for Peace and Reconciliation meets in Dublin later today to discuss sectarianism in the North.

The Progressive Democrats' Liz O'Donnell has defended comments she made yesterday which appeared to support the stance of the Ulster Unionist Party regarding Sinn Fein.

Progressive Democrat TD, Liz O'Donnell has expressed concern about the slow pace of decommissioning by the IRA, and it's failure to respond to demands in the peace process for acts of completion.

Nationalists want to see the transition from violence to exclusively peaceful and democratic means fulfilled, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claimed today.

A senior Ulster Unionist assemblyman says the revived Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin is a waste of time.

Nationalists feel let down by allegations of IRA spying at the heart of government, Brid Rodgers, deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party said tonight.

Sinn Fein has hit back at claims that it had performed an about turn on the return of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation.

Sinn Fein was accused today by a nationalist rival of an about-turn on the reconvening of a body involving political parties in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The Irish and British governments were today challenged to release their plan to implement the Good Friday Agreement when they convene talks aimed at restoring devolution.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has announced that the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation is to be revived and its first meeting will be held in Dublin Castle on Wednesday, November 27.

ALLEGATIONS that a civil servant was spying on David Trimble for the IRA plunged the Northern Ireland peace process deeper into crisis last night.

SINN Féin’s leadership appears to be in denial about the root problems in the Northern Ireland peace process, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble claimed last night.

The Loyalist Commission, an umbrella group of unionist paramilitaries, politicians and clergymen, has called on the IRA to declare that its war is over.

A Sinn Fein source in Belfast has said the Irish and British governments are likely to announce the re-establishment of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation following talks in Hillsborough today.