As the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister continue their push today for a deal on decommissioning and the formation of an executive, all sides agreed that little or no progress was made during yesterday's negotiations at Stormont.
With tomorrow's deadline for an agreement looming the best the British government could say about yesterday's meeting was that "useful conversations" had occurred. The Irish side said that while Mr Blair and Mr Ahern held several meetings, there was "little structure" to proceedings.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair spent a considerable amount of time yesterday in meetings on Drumcree. They are hoping that now a decision has been made on the parade they will be able to focus exclusively on persuading the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein to find common ground.
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, said yesterday's talks were "constructive" but it was vital that these final 48 hours of negotiations were used productively.
He said Sinn Fein had put forward ideas to Mr Ahern and Mr Blair on how progress might be achieved, and he hoped these suggestions could be developed today. He again rejected Mr David Trimble's insistence on "no guns, no government".
"That is an untenable position that goes totally and absolutely against the letter and spirit of the Good Friday agreement," Mr McGuinness said.
A crucial five-sided meeting is to be held today in which Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will negotiate with Mr David Trimble, Mr Gerry Adams and Mr John Hume. Later today the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister will receive Gen John de Chastelain's report outlining his view on the prospects of IRA decommissioning by May next year.
Gen de Chastelain will be basing part of his report on answers provided by Sinn Fein to specific questions he put, effectively seeking to determine whether the IRA is serious about disarmament.
This five-sided plenary and the decommissioning body's report are expected to concentrate minds on the necessity for movement from Sinn Fein and the UUP. But up to last night these two parties were publicly maintaining their fixed positions.
The UUP was insisting that effectively the IRA must provide a commitment via Sinn Fein that it would completely disarm by May 2000, the suggested date for decommissioning in the Belfast Agreement. It was also calling for some prior IRA disarmament before it would sit with Sinn Fein in an executive, although there were some tantalising hints that it might shift on this position.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, said Sinn Fein must provide a commitment that the IRA will disarm. "We want a clear acceptance by the republican movement of the obligation to decommission. We are prepared to look at some form of sequencing, but sequencing will have to involve actual decommissioning," he added.
"What we want to hear, clearly and unequivocally, no ifs, no buts, is that republicans accept that they have an obligation to decommission and that they are going to do so within the timescale set out in the agreement," Mr Trimble said.
The UUP deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, added: "Sinn Fein/IRA have got to accept the obligation that there has to be decommissioning. At that stage we would have to agree the timing [for disarmament]."
Earlier in the day, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Adams, said a deal could be done if the participants stuck to the terms of the agreement. "We should not underestimate the seriousness of this last, critical stage of negotiations. Sinn Fein is here to do the business," he said.
The Prime Minister's spokesman, also speaking earlier yesterday, said Mr Blair was feeling "more optimistic" about a settlement because he detected a willingness on the part of the UUP and Sinn Fein to finalise a deal by tomorrow night's deadline.
Mr Billy Hutchinson, of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF, said the UUP and Sinn Fein must strike a deal. His party, acting on behalf of the UVF, handed in a "holding" submission to the decommissioning body outlining a potential willingness to disarm if an equal commitment was forthcoming from the IRA.
"If unionists walk away from the table, next time we come back we will be in a weaker position. We are staring into the abyss. If we fall into the abyss I don't think we'll get out.
"Another 25 years and 3,000 deaths, I don't think that's what we want," he added.
He envisaged a shadow executive for a short period before the Assembly went into recess on July 9th, and a full administration when it returned in September.
