The dismal, wet weather seemed to harmonise with the mood inside Hillsborough Castle, writes Gerry Moriarty,Northern Editor
Security was heavier than usual outside Hillsborough Castle yesterday because of the "Real IRA" threat against senior unionist politicians. The only evident threat outside the castle though was in the form of a huge banner declaring, "Grand Protestant Rally".
The "rally" comprised five wet and bedraggled loyalists made up for their lack of numbers by blaring a klaxon and noisily protesting every time politicians spoke to the equally wet and bedraggled press corps.
It was all rather dismal and miserable. The rain eventually drove them away. It all seemed to harmonise with the mood of the engagement inside the castle, where the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, held audience with Mr David Trimble, Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Mark Durkan and with other pro-Belfast Agreement leaders and their chief lieutenants.
It was obvious that most pressure was on the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr Trimble. Before driving into the castle in the afternoon he tested the mood of senior party officers and MLAs in a nearby hotel.
His stern brief from them was to convey to Mr Blair and Mr Ahern their fury and the fury of many ordinary unionists over what they believe is republican-orchestrated violence on the streets and over issues such as Colombia, Castlereagh and alleged IRA hit-lists.
His task was to explain to the British and Irish leaders that unionist confidence in the agreement was draining away. He was also detailed to warn Mr Ahern and Mr Blair that without an improvement in the political and civil climate, anti-agreement unionists would be in the ascendant come the Assembly elections next May.
For an hour he made or suggested all those points, and then left Hillsborough refusing to participate in a round-table with the two leaders and the other parties. It was a token protest, of no particular value, but perhaps enough to give some comfort to his hardliners and those unionists who are impressed by grandstanding.
What he most wanted was Tony Blair to say he would censure Sinn Fein if there were further evidence of the IRA wandering from its ceasefire. "If we don't see significant progress by government in the course of this month before parliament goes into recess then in the absence of clear actual movement by government within that time-scale then we feel there is going to a very serious problem indeed."
What did that mean? "You can pretty well work out what the extent of that problem will be. I myself don't want to spell out the obvious because then it will look as if we are making threats . . . What we actually want is to see the situation fixed, and we want to see the transition complete. I don't want to go too much into the hypotheticals because it might give the wrong impression," Mr Trimble shrewdly evaded.
Here was Mr Trimble implying unionist ministers walking out of the Executive without actually spelling it out. It gave him room to up the ante or to retreat from such threats in the weeks and months ahead.
He got no support from the SDLP. "What should not happen in response to ongoing violence is that we put the lights out on democratic institutions," warned party leader Mr Mark Durkan.
"We should not be left in a situation that our democratic institutions are thrown into convulsions every time either paramilitaries run amok or intelligence sources plant stories," he added.
Mr Adams spoke of helping defuse tensions on the streets.
"The issue of armed groups has to be tackled. How do we do that? By coming together, not just at crisis meetings or summits but day-in, day-out by setting an example, by implementing the agreement," he said.
But republicans would not tolerate sanctions against Sinn Féin, he warned.
"No sanctions can be taken under the terms of the Good Friday agreement or against those people who vote for us, or against any other section of the electorate," said Mr Adams.
Mr Blair, in turn, waved the carrot and the stick. He believed republicans were committed to democracy but warned that the transition from violence to democracy must continue and be seen to be continuing. The Taoiseach equally wanted an acceleration of that process, but he doesn't want any action that would jeopardise Sinn Féin's commitment to the agreement.
In truth, apart from the constant threat of the process collapsing, very little emerged from yesterday's Hillsborough summit.
The hope of the two governments is that between now and the end of July - when Mr Trimble wants to see some positive action - there will be peace on the streets and that Drumcree and the Twelfth will pass off relatively peacefully.
Sinn Féin and the Progressive Unionist Party, which has influence in these matters, yesterday pledged to do their utmost to ease sectarian tensions.
If they succeed then it is possible that Mr Trimble will be able to refrain from imposing sanctions, and that, come the autumn, his difficulties can be more assiduously addressed.
But it's still pretty fraught out there.