THE Northern Secretary said yesterday that it was up to the IRA to "find the words and find the actions" that would convince everybody else that any future ceasefire was dependable.
Meanwhile, the loyalist parties, the UDP and PUP, announced that the British Prime Minister, Mr Major, has offered to meet them on November 19th.
Sir Patrick Mayhew, who officiated at the opening of a new hotel in south Belfast, said in response to a question about his meeting with the PUP and UDP on Monday: "I reiterated what I said in Dublin about the perceptiveness and the wisdom and the courage of the position which they are maintaining in relation to the [loyalist] ceasefire. And I undertook at their request to look at some proposals further."
Asked if the British government would spell out what it would consider as a "credible" IRA ceasefire, he said: "What we shall be doing is reiterating and reflecting what has been very sensibly suggested by Mr Bruton - that it is for the IRA to find the words and to find the actions that will give the rest of us the ability to be confident that any ceasefire is dependable.
"This rests with them. And in the first place, of course, the ceasefire has to be announced. It should be announced straight away.
A joint statement from the PUP and UDP yesterday welcomed the fact that Mr Major had acceded to their request for a meeting. They said they wished to discuss the current security situation, and to convey to Mr Major "the absolute urgency of a strong security response to the current republican terrorist threat".
They would also emphasise that when the inter-party talks moved into the negotiation of substantive issues, it was vital that the principle of consent be enshrined and that the manner in which proposals be presented to the people of Northern Ireland for endorsement or rejection be comprehensively addressed.
The statement added: "Sinn Fein do not accept the right of the people of Northern Ireland to determine their own future and in light of this fact, if at some time in the future Sinn Fein were to come into the talks process it would be entirely unacceptable that the consent principle be tampered with.
"It is essential that this democratic principle be underpinned upon engagement of substantive negotiations We cannot allow some participants to play by different rules than others."