THE Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, has not ruled out British officials continuing their talks with Sinn Fein, notwithstanding the abandoning of an IRA bomb in West Belfast at the weekend.
Dr Mowlam acknowledged, however, that the Poleglass bomb and other IRA incidents, such as the bomb alert near Girdwood British army barracks in North Belfast on Monday night, was making it difficult for the "conditions on the ground" to be sufficient to allow further meetings.
"I have said that I will assess all the criteria - the words and deeds in the round - given the chance. But I have said that the activities of the past few days do not bode well," she said in Newcastle, Co Down. Dr Mowlam was attending the annual conference of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein has complained that, after two meetings with British officials, it still has not received clarification of issues such as when it would enter talks after an IRA ceasefire. Equally, it has been seeking assurances that the talks would not become another "conference on decommissioning".
But yesterday Dr Mowlam said it was unfair to expect that all matters of clarification could be resolved after only two meetings.
She understood that there was progress at the second meeting. "I am sure at if we get a third chance people on both sides will do all they can to clarify the issues. It takes two for clarification," she said.
In "principle", the British government was prepared to allow further contacts between officials and Sinn Fein, she added.
