The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, has indicated that the deadline for the conclusion of the Northern Ireland talks could be extended.
Speaking on BBC's On the Re- cord yesterday, Dr Mowlam said the British government would not impose a settlement in Northern Ireland even if political parties failed to reach agreement by May next year. If the parties appeared to be "very close" to an agreement at that time, then a referendum in Northern Ireland could be postponed to allow talks to continue, but if there was no sense of movement the British government would "reassess" the political options, she said.
Confirming that the British Prime Minister would meet Mr Gerry Adams before Christmas, probably in Downing Street, Dr Mowlam said the government would seek "confirmation in terms of Sinn Fein's commitment to the peace process, which I don't think is in doubt". Sinn Fein would be treated like any other political party, she said.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, has said that changes in Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution will be put to referendum as part of any agreed settlement on the North. He added that the Government was looking at a number of options relating to the articles and wanted to see what the unionists had to offer.
The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, said that replacing the Government's "interference" with a "good neighbourly relationship" must be part of an agreed settlement on the future of the North.
Speaking on Sky television yesterday, he said that while last Thursday's meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was "positive," a big question remained over the Government's willingness to move on the issue of Articles 2 and 3.
Dr Mowlam, asked if any outline agreement could be reached before next May, said with a degree of "determination and will" there was no reason to doubt "we couldn't get there much earlier". However, an agreement by Christmas was now "quite selfevidently . . . not possible", she added. Imposing a settlement if there was no agreement between the parties would not work because the parties would pull out of the talks now, Dr Mowlam said. Pressed on whether the talks would continue if there were no prospect of an agreement in May, she said it was too early to say.
"If I say here `in May we will go on for another two years' then there won't be the push and the progress that is needed. We've got to have a dynamism in there, to get there, otherwise the talks will become stultified," she added. A referendum in Northern Ireland could not go ahead if political parties did not reach agreement, Dr Mowlam argued, but if the talks were close to agreement "no one is going to object to doing another month or two".
"If they are a long way away, then we will have to look at another way forward . . . But of course if by May we're a little way off we'll continue. If we're a long way off we will reassess." In an interview on the RTE radio programme This Week, Mr Andrews would not go into detail on Articles 2 and 3, which state the Republic's territorial claim over Northern Ireland. The Minister said the negotiations were confidential.
Mr Andrews said he knew what he wanted relating to Articles 2 and 3. "And I believe I know what the Government would want and I believe I know what might be acceptable to the people of this country.
"We will be trying to have a meeting of minds relating to discussions on Articles 2 and 3, cross-Border institutions with executive powers and right across the broad spectrum. Everything is on the table."
Mr Trimble, asked if a referendum on Articles 2 and 3 must be held simultaneously with a referendum in the North, said he did not know if that would be the case.
In the event of an agreed settlement in Northern Ireland, he rejected the suggestion that that cross-Border co-operation would increase Dublin's role in the North. "We have interference at the moment . . . by virtue of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Maryfield secretariat, but that is going to change if there is going to be a new beginning," Mr Trimble said.
Speaking on BBC's Breakfast with Frost, the Sinn Fein MP Mr Martin McGuinness said that the IRA was "absolutely committed" to its peace strategy despite the recent resignations of some members of the organisation. Editorial comment: page 15