Bush envoy meets new Northern Secretary

US president George Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, will hold his first meeting with new Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain in London today, as efforts to revive the Stormont Assembly step up a gear.

Mr Reiss will also meet unionist and nationalist politicians in Belfast this week as the Irish, US and British governments assess the state of the peace process following the recent general election and local government elections in the North.

The meeting with Mr Hain will take place two days before British Prime Minister Tony Blair holds talks in Downing Street with Ian Paisley’s Democrat Unionists and Sinn Féin.

Both parties made gains in the elections and tightened their grip as the main voices of their communities.

But the meetings are also the first since Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams appealed to the IRA to consider abandoning armed struggle and embracing the democratic alternative.

A republican source said: “There have obviously been contacts in recent weeks between Sinn Féin and British officials.

“The meeting in Downing Street on Thursday will, however, be the first that has been held with Prime Minister Tony Blair since Gerry Adams appealed to the IRA to consider a new route and the first since the IRA embarked on its internal debate.

“We will clearly be exploring the possibility for moving the peace process forward after months of deadlock.

“But we will also be reminding the British government and also the Irish Government of the need to ensure that the peace process keeps moving and they honour outstanding commitments in the Good Friday Agreement even if the DUP continues to stall.”

Mr Reiss was also expected to continue the Bush administration’s support for the cause of integrated education for Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren in the North during his visit.

Mr Hain is also preparing today to visit Dublin for his first meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern since taking over at the helm of the Northern Ireland Office.

The British government is expected to come under pressure from the DUP during Tony Blair’s meeting this week to press ahead with devolution in the North regardless of whether republicans are able to sever all links with paramilitary and criminal activity.

DUP sources also indicated today that they intend to press Mr Blair on granting the party seats in the House of Lords for the first time, especially as it now has a team of nine MPs at Westminster.