US envoy joins peace talks effort

US Special Envoy Mitchell Reiss will join a fresh push today to strike a Northern Ireland peace deal.

Mr Reiss is taking part in talks with the political parties at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, as all sides attempt to break the impasse over IRA disarmament proof.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will chair the discussions a week on from the breakdown of a historic plan to have unionists and republicans sharing power at Stormont.

Ian Paisley’s DUP is demanding photographic proof of weapons destruction before agreeing to sit in a new executive with Sinn Féin.

The North Antrim MP has ruled out suggestions that he could act as a witness for IRA decommissioning.

Following talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street last night, he rejected a possible compromise that could meet his demands for transparency.

He said: “No, no. The man in the street says: ‘For me, seeing is believing’, and he must see it and see it he will, by the grace of God.”

Dublin and London’s joint blueprint for restoring devolution in Belfast and forcing the IRA out of business came agonisingly close to success last week.

But the strategy was derailed when the Provisionals refused to meet DUP insistence on visual proof their guns were being dismantled, claiming it was an attempt to humiliate them.

Mr Murphy, Mr Ahern and Mr Reiss will want to press the parties for any possible compromise that can solve the peace puzzle during today’s negotiations.

The DUP had threatened to break off contact with the Irish Government on Monday after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern appeared to concede that photographs were unworkable.

However, Mr Paisley said he would meet the Minister for Foreign Affairs once the Taoiseach clarified his Government’s position in the Dáil this morning.

Mr Murphy denied that the Irish and British governments were at odds on the issue of photographs.

Despite little optimism that a pre-Christmas breakthrough can be achieved, a Northern Ireland Office spokesman said they were hopeful that progress could be made.

“Obviously, we will be trying to put their minds on moving the process forward,” he said.

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has urged Mr Paisley to meet Gerry Adams to agree a solution.

Republicans also met Mr Reiss last night at one of his first engagements in a two-day visit.

He is also due to hold talks with murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane’s widow Geraldine, and representatives of the Orange Order.