Participants in the Northern Ireland peace talks expressed optimism yesterday about the pace of progress following the adoption of a new working-group format. This has reduced the number of politicians taking part from about 50 to 20.
All political parties said the smaller working-group had enabled the parties to make far speedier progress. There was unanimous agreement that yesterday's three-hour meeting was positive and constructive.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said: "We had a very useful discussion in the new format. There was a qualitative difference in the style and content of deliberations."
She was optimistic that the parties could agree on what constituted the core issues of the talks before they broke up for Christmas and that they would be able to move towards drafting an agreement by way of sub-committees in the new year.
She confirmed that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, would be visiting Stormont Castle on Monday and meeting all the party delegations including the Ulster Unionists.
The North's Minister for Political Development, Mr Paul Murphy, was also optimistic. "I think the atmosphere was very good, very workmanlike, very businesslike and really talking about the things that matter. We would certainly hope that by December 15th we would have agreement on what the key issues are."
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, who had previously claimed that the Ulster Unionists were not engaging in the talks, said: "We had a constructive engagement. There has been a good and frank discussion. I believe that progress in these matters could be reached very, very quickly indeed."
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was absent from the talks because of a prior engagement, but Mr Adams said that the party had been "very ably represented" by Mr Reg Empey and Mr Ken Maginnis.
Mr Dermot Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionists said that the meeting had been "fine" but insisted that his party was still not speaking directly to Sinn Fein. It was addressing its remarks through the chairman, Senator George Mitchell. Mr Nesbitt said that the UUP's difficulties about Mr Andrews's comments on cross-Border bodies had still not been resolved and clarification from the Taoiseach was required.
Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party said there was now a greater "understanding" at the talks. "The issues were dealt with in a frank and common sense manner," he said. When asked whether the PUP had talked directly to Sinn Fein, Mr Ervine said it was a "silly question" and refused to comment.
The party leaders, each with one colleague, will continue to meet Senator Mitchell and the British and Irish government teams for intensive discussions over the next fortnight.
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, said he believed that he and Mr Adams had widespread support for their attempts to overturn a ban on their use of facilities at Westminster.
They will meet the Speaker of the British House of Commons, Ms Betty Boothroyd, in London today to ask her to overturn her decision to ban them from taking offices there.
Mr McGuinness said: "Quite a number of MPs from different parties have said they disagree with the decision, and I think there are many other people who are quite sympathetic. We are going to be telling the Speaker that we believe the decision to impose restrictions which discriminate against Sinn Fein was unfair and unjust and we will be asking her to reverse the damage."