Deadline talks begin to save Good Friday Agreement

As the deadline for a deal to get the Good Friday Agreement back on track arrived today, the Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern hosted a round of talks at Hillsborough this morning.

Both Prime Ministers and the pro-agreement parties began discussions this morning to what has been described as the most crucial talks since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Before heading into Hillsborough Castle, Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said that what lay ahead was "absolutely critical to the future of this island and the relationship between this island and Britain".

He added: "These negotiations have been the most intensive for the last five years… I think if we have the political will from all of the participants here today then it is possible that we can put together a package that would not only see the full implementation of the agreement after five years but also a new set of political conditions emerge."

Mr McLaughlin said that there had been movement in the past few days on a broad range of issues such as new legislation on policing and criminal justice, demilitarisation, Irish language rights, and equality and human rights.

He said that Sinn Fein was prepared to work with the UUP to "make politics work".

However, UUP leader David Trimble was less positive, warning that sanctions against republicans would need to be addressed if there was any hope of ensuring "acts of completion" took place.

Mr Trimble said: “What we need to hear is that the so-called war is over and to see the evidence of it worked out in practice.

“Only when we get clarity on that will we be in a position to take these talks further. Sanctions against republicans are critical and we need some mechanism to ensure that this ‘safety net’ is in place.”

Both governments were still locked in negotiations this evening, but on Monday morning the British Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said the government "hoped that progress would be made".

He added: "Clearly there had been a lot of serious engagement from the parties in the weeks leading up to today's talks. Today was essentially about how we could translate the Prime Minister's desire for acts of completion, as he had outlined in his speech last October, into hard realities in terms of an Agreement that would stand the test of time."

The spokesman said that all stakeholders wanted "clarity and certainty". However, there were no plans for the Prime Minister to stay overnight in the province.

(GMcG)