Mallon claims deal was brokered by Blair

A dispute between unionists and nationalists developed at Stormont yesterday as negotiations on the shape of Northern Ireland…

A dispute between unionists and nationalists developed at Stormont yesterday as negotiations on the shape of Northern Ireland's governmental structures and cross-Border relationships arrived at a logjam.

The Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, categorically spelled out the agreement he had reached with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, on North-South implementation bodies and the number of government departments.

"As far as I am concerned my negotiations with the PM and through him, with the other parties, have been completed on this basis.

"That is the deal that has been done and I stand by it.

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"It is now for the other parties to confirm their participation in the agreement brokered by the PM," Mr Mallon said.

Mr Mallon's statement came at the end of a day which saw an apparent Ulster Unionist backtrack on the agreement hammered out on Wednesday night when Mr Blair visited Parliament Buildings at Stormont to help resolve the impasse. Politicians negotiated until the early hours of yesterday morning and it was believed that only the detail of the agreement had yet to be finalised.

The expected visit of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to Stormont yesterday failed to materialise as it became clear a breakthrough would not be achieved and unionists say a deal may take weeks.

A two-hour UUP Assembly party meeting early in the afternoon featured "energetic debate" on the issues. One UUP Assembly member, Mr Esmond Bernie, said some party members had "wanted assurances". Other reports suggested the meeting was tense and fractious.

Mr Mallon said he understood that an agreement had been reached with Mr Blair on four specific North-South implementation bodies - a trade and business development body, a tourism body, a strategic transport body and an EU programmes body. It was believed that the final number of North-South bodies would be six.

He also said it was agreed there would be 10 government departments including a stand-alone department of finance and personnel. It had been previously thought that the department of finance might fall into a central department under the control of Mr David Trimble and Mr Mallon.

Earlier the deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist parliamentary party, Mr John Taylor, said that "no way" were negotiations going to be completed by the end of the day.

He said the negotiations were ongoing and would be for "a considerable time ahead". He encouraged the assembled media to "take a week's holidays".

Mr Taylor, speaking after the meeting of his party's Assembly members, reiterated his party's commitment not to sit in an executive with Sinn Fein before the decommissioning of illegal armaments had commenced.

He said no area of the negotiations was confirmed "until everything is agreed".

According to Mr Taylor there were three outstanding issues for the UUP and five outstanding issues for the SDLP. "Just let the negotiations go the way they are going. I'm quite relaxed about it."

He said his party was favourable to the setting up of North-South bodies on waterways and animal diseases.

The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, yesterday said the First Minister, Mr Trimble, was "obligated" to sort out the issues before he left for the US.

Mr Trimble is due to leave for the US this morning and will not return until December 14th. Mr Adams was speaking after his latest meeting with the First Minister, which lasted for 30-40 minutes.

Mr Adams said that "there could have been agreement on these matters at any time". He maintained that a "lack of political will" had resulted in the current situation and accused the Ulster Unionists of "continual breaches of the agreement".

The Alliance Party leader, Mr Sean Neeson, has described the current deadlock as "the greatest setback since the signing of the Good Friday agreement" and said that if nothing was agreed by last night it would not be solved before Christmas.