THE Irish Government was "very wise" not to break off all contacts with Sinn Fein, according to the SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon.
"I think it is right that Sinn Fein will be able to have access at official level if the situation requires it and I think the Irish Government is very wise in taking that precaution", Mr Mallon said during a break in the multi party talks at Stormont's Castle Buildings.
He hoped it would prove possible for Sinn Fein to join the talks. "I would like them to join with us in pursuing the nationalist agenda in very difficult circumstances in those negotiations because, in reality, the SDLP is the only nationalist party there.
Mr Mallon said it was "very difficult" to know if there would be another IRA ceasefire. "If the things Sinn Fein said are true, that they want peace, that they want a negotiated solution to this problem, then they themselves have to create the circumstances within which they can play their role in doing just that."
The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, said that, in view of the actions of the republican movement, he did not foresee Sinn Fein taking part in the talks.
He asked who would believe the IRA if it declared another ceasefire. "I would take an awful lot of convincing, as would everybody else.
Commenting on the Irish Government's policy of maintaining contact, however minimal, with Sinn Fein, Mr Trimble said: "I wonder what sort of contact they think is appropriate in a situation where the IRA have murdered one of their policemen, when they've discovered the extent to which the IRA, are maintaining arms factories in their own territory and when you've got the involvement of the IRA in racketeering in Dublin."
The UUP leader said there would come a point in the middle of July when the multi party talks would have to be adjourned until September. "I would not like to see us going into an adjournment through the summer months without having got the procedures and the agenda settled", Mr Trimble said.
However, Mr Mallon disagreed with a July September adjournment. "We have to get on with the business, we all know what the business is. The formats have been agreed and we have got the agreed chairman. I think we should proceed."
The talks were again taken up entirely with procedural matters yesterday. The leaders of the three main unionist parties, Mr Trimble, the Rev Ian Paisley and Mr Robert McCartney, met to discuss a common approach to reducing the powers of the chairman, Mr George Mitchell, and ensuring that the Ground Rules document of the Irish and British governments was set aside.
Mr McCartney told reporters: "I think, quite frankly, that the Irish Government and the SDLP are going to categorically refuse any diminution, change or dilution of either the Ground Rules document or George Mitchell's powers." At this point, the UUP would be faced with a "crunch decision".
The former prime minister of Finland, Mr Harri Holkeri, deputised in the chair for Mr Mitchell, who was making a brief visit to the US. The Irish Government was represented by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Hugh Coveney, and the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson. A meeting of the Irish Government delegation with the UUP failed to secure agreement on procedural issues.
Asked if he could ever see Sinn Fein taking part in the talks, the UUP deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, replied: "Certainly not the Sinn Fein that we know today."
Irish Ministers will discuss the peace process and their relationship with Sinn Fein when the Cabinet meets tomorrow, writes Maol Muire Tynan. The usual Tuesday Cabinet meeting has been postponed for 24 hours as the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, is in Rome and the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, returns from a trip to Malta today.
Ministers are expected to assess a report on the arms and explosives find in Co Laois.
Pessimism is now widespread in Dublin political circles as to the possibility of a renewed IRA ceasefire. However, the Government still remains reluctant to cut off all channels of communications with Sinn Fein.