THE Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs told the Seanad he was glad after too long an interval Mr David Trimble has agreed they should meet again.
Mr Spring, who was opening statements on Northern Ireland, said he hoped the meeting with the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party "this time will lay the foundations for a more enduring dialogue.
"Mr Trimble has accepted in assurances that I do not wish to participate in debate exclusively concerned with the internal affairs of Northern Ireland.
"I have proposed that the principal item on our agenda should be how we proceed to all party negotiations on the three stranded basis. Self evidently, the Irish Government will be fully and directly involved in negotiations on North/South and East/West arrangements.
"In addition, the way in which the various strands of negotiation interlink, and their overall phasing and management, are of legitimate concern to all parties in every strand. Given, therefore, that the peace convention advocated by Mr Trimble, or any form of elective process, would of necessity be expected to lead immediately into full negotiations, the manner of this interconnection is one on which all participants need to agree.
The Tanaiste reiterated the nature of the Government's relations with Sinn Fein. There could not be meetings at Ministerial level until straightforward and unambiguous terms for a new ceasefire are set out. This did not mean they were abandoning Sinn Fein nor was the Government saying Sinn Fein and the IRA were one and the same and that Sinn Fein must always bear full responsibility for the actions of the IRA.
"But we cannot ignore the fact that there is a level of connection between the IRA and Sinn Fein, a degree of overlap in terms of personnel and ideological affinity. Our treatment of Sinn Fein, should, therefore, be modulated and carefully calibrated, and we must be conscious of the full implications, both for our own democratic system and for varying perceptions elsewhere, of how we proceed."
However, channels of communication would be kept open. "And Sinn Fein itself should consider what it can do, by itself, to develop confidence in its commitment to democratic processes."
At the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, its representatives appeared ready to accept the Formulation that "the pursuit of political goals, including the establishment of an overall political settlement, must be undertaken by exclusively peaceful and democratic means, characterised by dialogue and free from violence and coercion. Sinn Fein must now think through the implications for it as a party of a commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means."
The Tanaiste said there were substantial grey areas and internal contradictions in what Sinn Fein said on key issues like self determination and consent. These were spelled out by Mr Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach in 1994 but to his own knowledge, Sinn Fein has made no serious attempt to respond.
As the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton had said, the Government must seek, with the British government, to find a way forward in which Sinn Fein could honourably rejoin the political process once the IRA campaign is over.
But, even if the IRA was to vanish tomorrow, there would still be a need to reach an accommodation which addresses all the relative relationships and allows the people "of this island and these islands" to live and work together.
Mr Spring said he was determined that the loyalist parties have a place at the negotiating table since they represented people central to the conflict and must be directly involved in finding a solution.
"The right to peace is surely the most fundamental of all rights. That the exercise of this right is being hampered by those who purport to act for Ireland is a cruel irony. There is no justification, moral or political, for their actions," Mr Spring added.