The British government is expected to face further pressure today to publish the reports completed by retired Canadian judge, Mr Peter Cory into four killings in Northern Ireland.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen will discuss the issue with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Mr Murphy during a British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference meeting in Farmleigh.
However, the meeting will primarily focus on the arrangements to be put in place for the review of the Good Friday agreement, which is due to begin in Belfast on February 3rd.
In particular, Minister Cowen will seek an update from the NI Secretary on progress made by the British government in implementing agreements made on criminal justice during the Weston Park talks. "The governments will demonstrate that the implementation of the agreement continues to be rolled out," a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman told The Irish Times.
The Government has been unhappy about the rate of progress made up to now by London, believing that the latter had pulled back from the recommendations made by the Criminal Justice Review Group, which reported in March 2000.
It proposed 294 recommendations for change across Northern Ireland's criminal justice system.Legislation to give legal status to the recommendations passed into law in July 2002, though the Government has been unhappy with the progress made with its implementation since then.
Final arrangements have not been made for the review talks, though the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern has already indicated that he wants it to sit twice each week until Easter, at least.
Frank Millar, (London Editor) writes: On the eve of today's meeting, the SDLP urged the Irish Government to prevent London from indulging the majority anti-agreement unionist bloc in the coming months.
Launching his party's submission on the forthcoming review of the Belfast Agreement, Assembly member Mr Alex Attwood warned there was a danger that the British government could adopt "a tactical approach" to the 1998 accord. "This party has told officials in the Irish Government. that it is their responsibility to make sure that politics develops. It is their responsibility to make sure that Downing Street does not slow down or pull things up. It is their responsibility to ensure that the message goes out loud and clear that the DUP is not going to be given space in order to further upset politics on this island."
However the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, continued to play 'hardball' about the terms for the resumption of power sharing devolution in the North, despite the SDLP's warning.
Speaking in the House of Commons Mr Blair told MPs he could not have a situation in which people who remained attached to active paramilitary organisations could expect to sit in government.
"We cannot have a situation where people are expected to sit in government with political parties attached to active paramilitary organisations."
Amid reports about tough private talks between Mr Blair and Sinn Féin leaders over the past fortnight, the prime minister's words yesterday suggested that he does not consider the DUP election victory the sum total of the problem - and that he does not either consider the conditions met in which unionists could be reasonably expected to resume power sharing.
