Sinn Féin fighting for November election date

Sinn Féin is trying to secure a November Assembly election in Northern Ireland in the current round of talks, a party negotiator confirmed today.

After a meeting in Belfast with Richard Haass, US President George Bush’s special adviser on Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey said intensive contacts between his party and the Ulster Unionists were continuing.

And with speculation mounting that an Assembly election might not take place on November 13, the South Belfast councillor said: “Obviously, people are talking about election dates but we have not got too focused on the dates.

“We expect there to be an election and we would hope to secure that in November.

“It would not be an attractive proposition for us to go into an election beyond November and we are working to get the election soon.”

Mr Haass met Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Mr Maskey, Dara O’Hagan and Philip McGuigan.

The US official, who was involved in five hours of talks at Downing Street yesterday involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists, is due to meet pro-Good Friday Agreement parties and the Democratic Unions.

Mr Maskey said they had briefed the US envoy about the latest developments.

The former Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast would not be drawn on when he believed the discussions with Ulster Unionists to break the deadlock in the peace process would end.

“That is impossible to say,” he said.

“We have built up a bit of momentum right now but we are also mindful that despite all the progress, these talks could fall flat on their face.

“We are working on the basis that our discussions are making good headway.

“We are going to keep right at it and would expect the intensive discussions to continue.”

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was due to meet his Assembly grouping today and brief them on the discussions.

Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan was also due to have a lunchtime meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.

The meeting was taking place amid criticism of the UK government’s handling of the negotiations by SDLP negotiator Alban Maginness.

“What we have got on the one hand is ’the save Dave approach’ while on the other they are trying to mollify Gerry Adams,” the North Belfast councillor observed.

“It is a sort of Celtic and Rangers type of politics and is something that the public out there reject completely.”