The Westminster parliament seems set for a recall next week to consider the British government's package of anti-terrorist measures in response to the Omagh massacre and the continuing security threat posed by the `Real IRA' and other dissident republicans.
Sources said last night the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, may announce the move to recall MPs tomorrow when he flies direct to Belfast at the end of his French holiday for a further round of meetings and consultations with political leaders and security chiefs. It is understood the proposed measures, following in line with those announced by Dublin last week, will require primary legislation and that the emergency sitting of the Commons and the Lords could last several days. One well-placed source said: "If he's going to meet the requirements of the security chiefs it certainly won't be done in a day." Mr Blair and Dr Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, are guaranteed cross-party support for the package, thought certain to include the admissibility of evidence from telephone taps in court cases for the first time and moves to increase the likelihood of convictions for membership of proscribed organisations on the word of a senior police officer.
However, the early recall of MPs would almost certainly see Conservative and unionist pressure build on the Prime Minister to reclaim the power to intern terrorist suspects, a move unionist politicians say would be impossible for the Irish Government to take without comparable provision for the North.
It is believed Dr Mowlam is against reinstating the power to intern - she announced its end at last year's Labour Party conference - but that senior police officers want to see it restored to the statute book.
Last night the Ulster Unionist Party's security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis MP, urged the British government to ensure its anti-terrorist legislation did not fall short of the measures announced by Dublin last week, including the power of internment.
"One vital step which has to be taken is to at least replace the internment facility on the statute book, although I don't expect that will be used at an early stage," Mr Maginnis said.
Earlier, the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr Paul Murphy, insisted the reintroduction of internment was still an option. Speaking on BBC radio, Mr Murphy said: "Nothing is ruled out so long as it is within the rule of law, so long as it's compatible with parliamentary democracy." He supported Mr Blair's rejection, in reference to the `Real IRA', that the SAS might be deployed to "take them out". However, the UUP deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, said while he did not support a shoot-to-kill policy, he hoped the SAS would not be completely excluded from security operations in the North. "Ulster needs the SAS now. Not to act outside the law, but to become a more effective undercover operation against the activities of the `Real IRA' ".
The vice-chairman of the Tory backbench Northern Ireland Committee, Mr Andrew Robathan, also supported the Prime Minister's rejection of the SAS, but condemned the government for not pressing the IRA to hand over its weapons. "The same can be said for a lot of people in Omagh and Dundalk who have both actively and by their votes supported people like this," he said.
Writing in the Observer yesterday, Mr Blair pledged that the Omagh bombers were men "of the past" and promised to use all the political and security will to "close this chapter of Irish history once and for all". Mr Blair said the two governments would work together to hunt down the `Real IRA' and any other similar groups to bring them to justice. No one in Northern Ireland or the Republic could claim any mandate or moral justification for committing such acts again.