The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, has told the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, of the Government's concern about Britain's continuing delay on the issue of Bloody Sunday, and he has repeated the call for a fresh inquiry into the shootings. However, Dr Mowlam told reporters it was "a difficult, complicated issue". The British government was spending a lot of time on it: "We will reach a conclusion, I hope, sooner rather than later."
Bloody Sunday was among the issues discussed at yesterday's Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental Conference in Belfast. At a press conference afterwards, Mr Andrews was asked if he believed the British government would reopen the inquiry rather than settle for an apology.
"We asked for an inquiry," he said. "We have already given a dossier to the British authorities in relation to it. We expressed our concern at the ongoing delay and they indicated their need to continue to review the situation but that they would urgently come to a conclusion on the matter. "We also expressed our concern about the continued stress on those people who suffered bereavement as a result of what happened in 1972 - 14 people shot and killed. I was there myself at the funerals, I was only a young Dail deputy at the time but I recall it very, very clearly as if it was yesterday. "Apart from any personal concern, the Irish Government are deeply concerned about this matter and are taking it very, very seriously indeed, to the point where we want another inquiry," Mr Andrews said.
Relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims have stressed that they wanted a new inquiry rather than an apology. Commenting on the issue yesterday, Dr Mowlam said: "I've met the relatives and talked with them. I know exactly the conclusions they would like to see.
"It is a difficult, complicated issue. We are spending a lot of time on it and I promised them that I will talk to them when an announcement is made.
"We will reach a conclusion, I hope, sooner rather than later and I realise that it is an important issue. It's one that a lot of pain and suffering and anguish is still around over, although it's now a generation ago. And I can assure you we are taking the issue very seriously."
Commenting on the Stormont talks, Mr Andrews said he hoped to "see the outlines of an agreement before too long". There was "a real need now for engagement on hard issues".
He said the meeting with Dr Mowlam and her ministers was "a very constructive discussion". On the talks, both sides had agreed that "compared even to a few months ago, we have come a long distance".
From November 17th there would be "a series of intensive bilateral discussions" under the direction of the chairman, Senator George Mitchell.
"We take the view, shared by the British government, that there's a real need now for engagement on hard issues to get under way and we feel that the structures to allow this are now in place. "So I hope we may see the outlines of an agreement before too long, even if there is a huge amount of work to be done and, of course, much hard bargaining, much negotiation, much more discussion, before we advance to that particular point."
He believed the Ulster Unionist Party was wholeheartedly committed to the talks process: "They wouldn't be there, I would have thought, otherwise, unless they are fully committed as I believe they are." Responding to suggestions that progress was too slow, Mr Andrews said: "We're only in the talks three or four weeks: give us a chance and give the talks a chance. Give peace a break: give it an opportunity."
The Political Development Minister at the Northern Ireland Office, Mr Paul Murphy, told journalists the intensity of the discussions would be much greater from now on. "We're completing the opening agendas on different issues in the talks at the moment. From next week onwards we're going to consider going into intensive consultations." He added: "The important aspect about that is that the parties themselves are of a mind to go into that particular consultation period."
Mr Murphy continued: "The intensity of the talks is certainly going to be much greater over the next few weeks after we've moved off the formalities of the agenda and parties putting their initial opening statements on different issues in front of them."
Dr Mowlam paid tribute to Mr Dick Spring on his retirement as leader of the Labour Party. "I wish him well in whatever he chooses to concentrate on in the future. We found working with him a very positive experience."