THE British proposals for elections in the North and all party talks would not be altered, the Taoiseach indicated.

"That paper has been the subject of extensive consultation, but is now a definitive document", said Mr Bruton. "There are, as the House is aware, one or two areas which are explicitly left to be settled by the negotiators themselves. Other than that, the ground rules are now the ground rules and are definitively such."

He was replying to the PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, who asked if the ground rules represented the definitive proposals, not open to negotiation as some unionist politicians were suggesting. She said she supported both governments' efforts to ensure that there would be inclusive all party negotiations on June 10th.

The matter was raised, on the Order of Business, by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, who said that his party broadly welcomed the document. He urged the Government to use its influence to ensure that nobody was excluded from involvement in the democratic electoral process.

Mr Bruton said that the Government would be willing to convey any reasonable representations that it received on the matter to the appropriate quarter.