Discussions on the implementation of the Patten report on policing in Northern Ireland are to be completed by the end of November, and a full implementation plan will be published in December, the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, told a meeting of the British-Irish Inter parliamentary Body in Cambridge yesterday.
Dr Mowlam emphasised that the report, which had been accepted by her government, would not be reworked, but details were missing in some areas and work remained to be done.
The speed of the process and its implementation also had to be the subject of consultation. Some wanted the proposals implemented by December, but legislation was needed, and she had to talk to the Treasury and to the trade unions.
Asked how she felt about Mr David Trimble's reaction to the Patten report, the Secretary of State said that a review committee would be looking at it and it was not a rejection. At this time of change there should not be blame or criticism. Mr Trimble was in a difficult situation.
She told another member of the body that a step-by-step approach was needed to the Patten proposals. She did not accept that cherrypicking and gradualism were linked. Gradualism was a good thing, but cherry-picking in Northern Ireland meant helping someone and handicapping someone else.
Asked by Irish members about the British government's alleged interception of public telecommunications between Ireland and Britain, Dr Mowlam said that she was aware of the allegations. However, in accordance with longstanding practice, she would not comment.
The Sinn Fein Cavan-Monaghan TD, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, said that there had been a violation of the civil rights of a countless number of people and there was significant public anguish and concern, but Dr Mowlam refused to comment further. When asked if her government was now intercepting telephone calls of Irish Government personnel and Irish business people, she refused to be drawn.
She said the British government was ready to move on the whole of the Good Friday agreement. The polls showed an enormous degree of support for it, but there was a growing fear that this was beginning to be eaten away. Both sides needed to be very careful to maintain confidence and people had to stay focused.
Some saw Senator George Mitchell's return as a kind of magic wand, but the process was a long one, and peace and stability had to be built up. It would not be helpful for her to indicate what would happen if certain sections of the agreement were not implemented, because she was trying to get people to make progress.
Mr David Wiltshire, a British Conservative MP, said that if members still believed in the Good Friday agreement they would have to try to help Mr Trimble at all costs, because a challenge to his leadership, in his [Mr Wiltshire's] judgment, was very close. "The vultures are circling, as you have seen over recent weeks, and I judge it to be a matter of not if, but when, there is a change of leader."
Gen John de Chastelain, chairman of the decommissioning commission, conceded that maintaining his high hopes was becoming more difficult with the approach of next May's deadline for completing the job. But he told the parliamentarians: "From a logistical and planning point of view, and what has to be done, we can still achieve the target. While I have no political responsibility, there are very good reasons for my optimism that we can do it within the time frame available.
"A large number of people in Ireland, North and South, want to see an end to violence and the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms. And a considerable majority in the North, and a huge one in the South, want the Good Friday agreement - which includes decommissioning - to work."
Gen de Chastelain emphasised: "All of us would like to see decommissioning take place, and as soon as possible. But the decision is not ours to make. It takes two to tango. Only the paramilitary groups themselves can decide when they will decommission their arms."
He confirmed that the commission had received "no phone calls yet" from groups wanting to decommission, but contact was being maintained with "those we feel can be helpful".