The Ulster Democratic Party has confirmed that it will sit down at the table with Sinn Fein when talks resume next month. Mr David Adams, a senior member of the UDP, which has close links with the outlawed Ulster Defence Association, said his party would take part in a plenary session on September 15th.
"The UDP has said since the outset of this process that we fully intend to negotiate and argue the unionist position. And as things stand at this present time, we fully intend to be ready to do that on September 15th," he said.
Mr Adams was speaking during a discussion on BBC radio on Saturday with a senior Sinn Fein member, Mr Alex Maskey, the first such debate since the resumption of the IRA ceasefire.
He also said nationalist acceptance of any agreement would be as essential as unionist consent and that a large section of both unionism and nationalism would have to agree on the way forward. Mr Maskey said he would be going to the negotiating table with a view to achieving a united Ireland in as short a time as possible but added that Sinn Fein had said it was "prepared to look at transitional arrangements".
The DUP and the UK Unionist Party have said they will not be taking part in the talks while it is now believed the Ulster Unionist Party will be at Stormont, but not in the same room as Sinn Fein. The Progressive Unionist Party, which has links to the UVF, is expected to take the same approach as the UDP.