MEMBERS of the Anglo Irish liaison group will meet early next week to plot a way forward to all party talks, in spite of an atmosphere of gloom in Government circles.
Yesterday after two hours of talks with senior Government officials, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, was unwavering in his stance that the peace process could only be restored by urgent movement towards all party negotiations.
The meeting, held at an undisclosed location in Northern Ireland, consisted of a very frank discussion", he said. The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste were briefed on the outcome, but no official comment was forth coming.
Meanwhile, the leader of Fianna Fail, Mr Ahern, has said that the unravelling of the peace process can be traced to the action of both governments in ignoring the Framework Document which was agreed in February 1995.
Mr Ahern told a party meeting in Tralee that that the peace process started to go off the rails" when the Ulster Unionist Party refused to take part in talks and withdrew its support from the British government.
The Government is understood to be anxious to facilitate an early Anglo Irish summit meeting later next week between the Taoiseach and Mr John Major. And while last Thursday's meeting of senior Irish and British officials was reasonably successful", significant gaps still separate the two governments in their approaches to talks.
"The peace process is still there," a Government source said. "It is limping along it is damaged but it is still there and must be revived."
With British political attention centred largely on the Scott report, and the threat it poses to the survival of the Conservative government when debated in the House of Commons on February 26th, the summit may be postponed until the end of the month.
Sinn Fein had outlined its view of how the peace process should be restored. Mr Adams said "As it clearly broke down through an absence of negotiations and indeed through a British government refusal to commence proper, honest dialogue, we stressed that it is in the commencement of proper negotiations that a way forward will be found.
The Sinn Fein vice president, Mr Pat Doherty, accompanied Mr Adams at the meeting with officials. They had argued strongly, he said, that both governments had to bring about, with great urgency, the all party talks necessary or very speedy progress into all party talks. The agenda must be inclusive and without any preconditions.
Public confidence could be underpinned by having clear timetables and clear agendas agreed with all speed, Mr Doherty added.
Asked whether the IRA would reinstate its ceasefire if talks could begin by the target date of the end of February, he pointed to the IRA's statements.
"I think, if the process broke down through a lack of negotiations, or indeed a refusal by the British government to initiate such negotiations, then there is a big responsibility upon the governments to abide by their commitments, and that then puts a very clear responsibility upon the IRA," he said.
He said the ordinary people were asking all the political parties, and the two governments, to accept the challenge of this time.
"People know that in the last 18 months we had no war. And I know that there was ample opportunity and lots of commitment made about commencing ... proper negotiations," Mr Adams said.
"The peace process broke down not just the cessation, but the peace process because of the absence of those negotiations. Let's get the negotiations up and then deal with all of these issues as we do that."
He hinted that negotiations, once initiated, could cement a cessation of violence. Once negotiations were started, that "becomes a brake upon everyone involved", he said.
When he had first met Mr Bruton he had spelt out in great detail his understanding of the basis upon which the IRA had agreed to cease military operations.
"And also the substance of what I thought was required to put meat, if you like, on the peace process... That was, speedy substantive talks, equality of treatment for all the citizens in this statelet and no preconditions being placed upon a movement into talks."
Mr Adams said that at the meeting each side had listened carefully to the other and they had planned to meet again. He was "not at all reluctant to go to the IRA to give my evaluation and assessment of the situation".
Asked if he was not more isolated than ever before, he replied that republicans had been through "about 25 years of those in power trying to isolate us, trying to marginalise us and trying to demonise us and that didn't work".