Taoiseach to meet loyalists

The Taoiseach is to hold talks with a group linked to the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association in Dublin tomorrow.

The UDA ceasefire and the prisoners issue are likely to be the focus of tomorrow's talks between Bertie Ahern and the Ulster Political Research Group, which speaks on behalf of the UDA.

The loyalist delegation at the meeting will include three councillors - Frank McCoubrey, Frankie Gallagher and Tommy Kirkham - the party's prisoners' spokesman Stanley Fletcher and the UDA leader Jackie McDonald.

A spokesman for the loyalists said there would be an open agenda, but high on that agenda would be the prisoners' issue and the situation inside Maghaberry jail.