The nationalist SDLP was challenged today to say whether it would back a post-election referendum on Irish unity.

Opponents of the SDLP’s plan for a team of civic administrators to run government departments in Northern Ireland in the absence of devolution are really arguing for direct rule from Westminster, party leader Mark Durkan claimed today.

FORMER British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan will be remembered for his good intentions and decency during some of the North’s darkest hours, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.

Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley has proved last December’s failed deal to restore devolution in Northern Ireland was bad for nationalists, it was claimed tonight.

The British government is considering a voluntary coalition in Northern Ireland which would freeze Sinn Féin out of office, republicans were warned tonight.

The British and Irish governments’ deal for reviving power sharing is flawed, the leader of the nationalist SDLP Mark Durkan claimed today.

Efforts to revive power-sharing in the North will today reach a critical stage as members of the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists prepare for a meeting of their party executive.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will today meet the SDLP after its leader criticised current peace process negotiations.

Sinn Féin appears to have taken its eye off the ball in defending the interests of nationalists and supporters of the Good Friday Agreement in talks to revive power sharing at Stormont, a rival claimed today.

Northern Ireland’s politicians and the Irish and British governments are approaching a defining moment in the political process, Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness claimed tonight.

Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness will raise concerns today about proposals to revive powersharing in Northern Ireland at a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Sinn Féin could back plans for the Northern Ireland Assembly to vote in future for the North’s entire power-sharing government, a senior negotiator signalled today.

The British and Irish governments were today urged to press the Democratic Unionists over their attitudes to power sharing in local councils and at Stormont.

Republicans will reject proposals to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland if they fall short of the Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish Governments were warned tonight.

The Democratic Unionists’ negotiating position is blocking a return to power sharing at Stormont, it was claimed today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern were urged today to “call the Democratic Unionists’ bluff” by triggering power sharing moves in Northern Ireland.

ALL political parties must commit themselves to resolving outstanding accountability issues if IRA decommissioning is to be guaranteed, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urged yesterday.

TWO more SDLP councillors have received death threats, the party confirmed last night.

The chairman of a local policing partnership board in Northern Ireland today hit out at those who sent him a death threat.

A bitter row erupted tonight between rival unionist parties in Northern Ireland as the Irish and British governments planned a fresh push to restore the Stormont Assembly.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell and his government have underestimated the public by rushing a referendum campaign on citizenship, Sinn Féin claimed yesterday.

Crucial talks between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams will take place tomorrow, following the release of a report which threatened to expose senior members of Sinn Féin in Provisional IRA leadership roles.

A day before Northern Ireland’s Assembly Election, Sinn Féin candidates were getting twitchy.

The Democratic Unionist Party was tonight accused by its main rival of adopting a “parasitical” approach to the Good Friday Agreement.

Pundits who have predicted the SDLP’s decline in the North's Assembly election will have to revise their opinion, its leader Mark Durkan insisted today.

Supporters of the Good Friday Agreement are becoming increasingly fearful of a strong showing by hardline unionists in next week’s Northern Ireland Assembly Election, it was claimed tonight.

There could be a united Ireland by 2016, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness predicted tonight.

The balance of power could be shifting in the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists, a senior Sinn Féin figure observed today.

Sinn Féin will occupy either the First or Deputy First Minister’s post in the next power-sharing government at Stormont, Martin McGuinness claimed tonight.

The British Government must ask itself if it is giving ‘‘false hope’’ to unionists in Northern Ireland by maintaining its presence there, a leading Sinn Fein figure argued tonight.

A bitter war of words between nationalist parties in Northern Ireland intensified today as the chances of an electoral pact at the next general election virtually evaporated.