Mr Tony Blair has shown determination and good judgment in his first substantial speech on Northern Ireland. Offering a meeting between his officials and Sinn Fein, to explain the British government's position on the talks process and to assess whether the republican movement is ready to give up violence, represents a bold step in this most intractable of situations.
With multi party talks due to resume on June 3rd, a failure to engage with Sinn Fein in order to establish whether the republican movement is prepared to abandon violence would have represented a short sighted, even counter productive approach. Official contact, as Mr Blair has made clear, will not involve negotiations about the terms of a ceasefire. It will be aimed specifically at encouraging Sinn Fein's participation in all party talks. A positive response by republicans to this overture - and the statement late last night by Mr Gerry Adams is encouraging would transform the Northern situation. Mr Blair has promised that his own reaction "will not be slow". And he has explicitly stated his desire that Sinn Fein should be included in the talks.
The Prime Minister's initiative is a double edged sword. While it removes the obstacle to official British government contact with Sinn Fein, it also places an onus on republicans to justify their campaign of violence or to end it in favour of political negotiations based on the concepts of intercommunity agreement and consent. Last evening, the venture was welcomed by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, the Fianna Vail leader, Mr Ahern and by the SDLP leader, Mr Hume, as a positive and hopeful development. It even drew a neutral response from Mr Trimble of the Ulster Unionists, who chose to see it in terms of a mechanism which would allow the talks to go ahead without Sinn Fein.
It is to be hoped that Sinn Fein will now seize the moment. In his response, Mr Martin McGuinness expressed disappointment with the speech; with its support for the position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom and with the terms of the proposed contact. And he restated the republican mantra of an end to "British domination and injustice".
But actions are more important than words; the salient point is that Mr Adams has now confirmed that the party has taken up the offer of talks. It has been in contact with the British government to arrange a meeting. Mr Adams hopes this meeting can be arranged without delay.
But there was much more to the speech than an offer of official contact with Sinn Fein. Mr Blair went out of his way to reassure unionists, in advance of the talks process, that their position within the United Kingdom was secure for the foreseeable future and would not change without the consent of a majority of the people in Northern Ireland. He was insistent, however, that a political settlement would embrace the concepts of the Downing Street Declaration. And the Joint Framework Document was held out as "a reasonable basis for future negotiation". Mr Blair indicated that he was a man in a hurry; a man who would follow his instincts "about what is right and fair" in encouraging a political settlement. He has made a generous gesture towards Sinn Fein. In his words, the party must now truly decide if it wants to engage in "politics alone".