Downing Street talks 'frank and useful' says Trimble

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has described as "frank and useful" talks held in Downing Street today with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The former First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, accompanied by assembly members Michael McGimpsey and James Cooper, spent an hour in discussions with the prime minister over how to refloat the Stormont executive.

Mr Trimble expressed his frustration at the current impasse and revealed that a request had been made for a meeting between the party and Sinn Fein on Thursday.

"We do want to see this agreement fully implemented, we do want to see the devolved administration working and we are fed up with the situation that every few months there is another crisis and we are forced to resign," he said.

The biggest stumbling block for the continuance of the devolved assembly – following the uncovering of an alleged spy ring at Stormont in September and the deteriorating feud within loyalism – remains the activity of paramilitaries.

Mr Trimble reiterated the need for what Mr Blair called in his Belfast speech in December as "acts of completion".

"We need to see paramilitaries do their part and we need to see confidence restored," he said. "We also discussed the need for loyalist paramilitaries themselves to engage in acts of completion."

On the prospect of elections, which are still pencilled in for May, Mr Trimble was less definite.

"There is the question of whether there is any point in having an election to an institution that no longer exists and what the practical consequences of that will be," he said.

"Our preference would be for matters to be resolved in such a way that the institutions can be reformed and then we can proceed to go election. But whether that is possible in the time available is a very open question."

The UUP leader added that the meeting he proposed with Sinn Fein would be used "to spell out" what he expects from republicanism.

"I'm not sure that the republican leadership has got the message. I should have realised back in October but I'm not sure they have realised and we need to spell that out to them," he said.

Yesterday, the DUP's deputy leader Peter Robinson criticised the UUP and called for a "new agreement".

"Having seen his project, the Belfast Agreement, lying in tatters, David Trimble cuts a pathetic figure in trying to reassert himself as the hard man of unionism," he said.

"The DUP is not in the business of breathing life into a failed agreement; it is in the business of bringing about a new agreement.

"The time for real and meaningful negotiations is after an election when a new agreement can be devised which can reflect the real views of the community.”

(GMcG)