A SERIOUS dispute is brewing between the Irish and British governments over a new precondition proposed by Mr John Major yesterday for Sinn Fein entering all party talks. He offered the choice of elections in Northern Ireland as an alternative to an arms decommissioning gesture as a new way forward in the peace process.
But the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, last night voiced misgivings about Mr Major's move to organise early elections in Northern Ireland. Mr Bruton, who is in Strasbourg, said elections could be divisive and deflect efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement.
The end of February must remain the target date for the beginning of all party talks, said Mr Bruton. All ideas and proposals, including that for an elected assembly, could be discussed during political contact in the coming weeks, he said. But there were clear difficulties with the proposed elections, as at this stage they did not command sufficient support.
"For an elected body to be useful, it would have to have widespread acceptance. As of now, that condition has not been fulfilled. A significant element of nationalists have not yet indicated acceptance of the proposal."
Anglo Irish officials have been instructed to seek immediate clarification of Mr Major's announcement in the House of Commons yesterday that there were two ways in which all party negotiations could now be taken forward in the light of the report of the International Body on arms decommissioning.
In a setback to the peace process, Mr Major proposed that one precondition could, effectively, be replaced by another the paramilitaries could start to decommission arms or all parties could seek a fresh mandate through elections for entry into all party negotiations. His government was ready, he said, to seek urgent approval to introduce legislation to allow an elective process to go ahead as soon as possible.
The Irish Times has confirmed that neither the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste nor their officials were informed beforehand that such proposals would be made. A Government spokesman said Mr Bruton and Mr Major, and their officials, had reaffirmed their commitment to begin all party talks at the end of February and bold an Anglo Irish summit in mid February.
In an attempt to play down the setback to the peace process, Mr Spring and other Ministers refrained from raising the latest differences in the Dail yesterday. But officials will be seeking clarification as to whether Mr Major was "covering a retreat" from Washington 3 or deliberately mounting a new roadblock to all party talks yesterday.
In the House of Commons, Mr Major clashed bitterly with the, SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, as, the Prime Minister launched his, electoral alternative to the decommissioning of weapons.
Mr Major said the problem remained "How to bring the parties together."
"Self evidently", he said, "the best way to generate the necessary confidence is for the paramilitaries to make a start on the decommissioning process.
The British government could see, no reason why they would not, and would therefore maintain the pressure for a start to that process.
However, he said, it was now apparent that there may well be another way forward". The International Body had "made clear that a broadly acceptable elective process, with an appropriate mandate and within the three strand structure, could contribute to the building of confidence."
Mr Major believed such a process offered "a viable alternative direct route to the confidence necessary to bring about all party negotiations", and in that context it was "possible to imagine decommissioning and such negotiations being taken forward in parallel."
Referring to the support of the unionist leaders Mr David Trimble and the Rev Ian Paisley, as well as the Alliance Party, for some form of an elected body, Mr, Major acknowledged that "other parties have registered their concerns".
They would need to be addressed, and the British government would urgently discuss with those parties how to overcome them. "But in a democratic system like ours I cannot see how elections could be regarded by any of the parties as a side issue or as a block to progress," he said.
The Prime Minister said that his government was ready to introduce legislation, and seek urgent approval for it so that an elective process could proceed "as soon as may be practicable".