'Little Sign Of Progress' In New Talks - Long

Alliance deputy leader Naomi Long has said the list of unresolved issues in the latest round of political talks is becoming longer, and that there is "little sign of any progress in addressing them."

The East Belfast MP made the comments as Northern Ireland's main political parties begin talks to resolve outstanding issues such as the budget, welfare reform, flags, parading and the past.

The discussions follow last year's talks, chaired by US diplomat Richard Haass and former US deputy national security adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan Meghan O'Sullivan, which ended in deadlock after parties were unable to agree on a set of solutions to the outstanding issues.

Mrs Long made the comments following the latest round of the new talks.

She said the process had been "nothing short of shambolic" and that there was a "lack of desire to make real progress from other parties."

"We are, in real terms, no further on than when the Haass process ended, with the number of issues included increasing and the will to address them appearing to have diminished," she said.

"This is the third set of talks in the past year and I am not the only one becoming increasingly frustrated at the failure to reach agreement to move forward. The constant bickering over who should be and had been participating in meetings was not a hopeful sign and it now appears there will not be another roundtable discussion between all parties before the November 28 deadline. That is not the way for high-level cross-party talks to be organised. Most of the progress made during Haass was done so in plenary format where parties could directly engage."

(IT/CD)