New hope after Northern Ireland talks

Fresh hope emerged tonight that devolution in Northern Ireland could be restored as political parties decided to intensify talks.

Following a round-table discussion at Stormont, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Foreign Minister Brian Cowen held out hope that the Northern Assembly could return after the parties agreed to meet again next week.

After a four-hour meeting involving the governments, the Ulster Unionists, nationalist SDLP, Sinn Fein, the loyalist Progressive Unionists, Alliance and Women’s Coalition, Mr Murphy declared: “I think that we certainly have come a long way in terms of the parties talking to each other.

“That is not, of course, a resolution of the difficulties facing us but I think that there is a realisation that we are at a very, very critical time and there was also a realisation that all of us in there believe that the only way forward is through the Belfast Agreement.”

Today’s discussions focused on how the Agreement could be fully implemented, with parties setting out their problems with the process.

The Ulster Unionists insisted power sharing could only be restored if republicans faced up to the need to end all paramilitary activity and complete the transition to exclusively peaceful and democratic means.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness set out several areas of the Agreement which they said had not been implemented by the British government, claiming that had slowed down progress.

The party called for additional police reforms, a rolling programme of demilitarisation, changes to the criminal justice system and for equality, human rights and the rights of Irish language speakers to be addressed.

A talks source said: “There was a real sense of the parties wanting to get down to the nitty gritty today and, I think, relief that the two governments are talking about a more inclusive process dealing with all the issues once and for all.

“People want to get this Agreement finally nailed down and do not want to go back to more negotiations several months or a year down the line.”

As the parties prepared to build on today’s discussions, Brian Cowen appealed for them to be given the time and space needed to take huge strides to secure the Agreement.

“Can I say that if we have learned anything from Northern Ireland, you have to create an enabling context in which a quantum leap of the magnitude that is necessary can be brought about,” he said.

“That process began today by those who are committed to this agreement sitting down, man to man and woman to woman, talking about what they see as the issues that need to be addressed.”

Ulster Unionist negotiator Reg Empey was careful not to spell out exactly how Sinn Fein and the loyalist parties should deal with the paramilitary issue.

“The private army issue has to be resolved,” he argued.

“I am not going to put a particular word on it and I didn’t for very obvious reasons. As to what they do, how they do it and how it’s described, I’m not really worried about that.”

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness insisted “great work” could be achieved if the parties demonstrated the political will to deal with their problems.

“The British government have to face up to the issues we have raised and, of course, we have declared at the meeting today that we too are prepared to face up to all of the other issues that have been raised by all of the other participants in the talks,” he said.

“I think we have got off to a good start but we have got to keep it up. There is more work to be done.”