Sinn Fein say they inserted reality to talks

Emerging from the round table session at Hillsborough, Sinn Fein vice- president Pat Doherty said his party had inserted a strong sense of reality into the talks.

He said: ‘‘We told the British Government it was entirely their fault and responsibility for not living up to their commitments of May of last year.’’

Mr Doherty said it was unacceptable that First Minister David Trimble was attempting to run an apartheid executive by excluding Sinn Fein representatives from the north-south meetings.

He said Sinn Fein had given the smaller parties a detailed assessment of what had been agreed by the British Government last May and said that the only way forward was for Mr Blair to fulfil those commitments.