THERE were hopes of a break through at Stormont last night after talks chairman, Senator George Mitchell, decided on an initiative to shift the process from tortuous wrangling over procedures to the first substantive phase of negotiations.
Mr Mitchell will today present the parties with a set of procedural rules. If they are accepted, he intends to arrange a plenary session of the talks process, probably for either Monday or Tuesday, to adopt these procedures, with the parties then breaking for summer holidays.
Part of the plenary session's purpose would be to agree a broad agenda for talks, which would then resume in September.
This initiative comes after the British and Irish governments, and Mr Mitchell, warned the parties that further procrastination over procedural issues could force the collapse of the talks.
It is expected that Mr Mitchell's main difficulty will be in selling his proposals to the mainstream unionist parties. The Ulster Unionist Party said it would wait until today to see his proposals before reacting.
A senior UUP talks delegate was cautiously optimistic about a breakthrough, if not today, then at least tomorrow, and that the talks would finally enter a substantive phase. "I think we can move forward," he said.
A, senior DUP party delegate said that Mr Mitchell had succeeded in narrowing the areas of division to the "basic, crunch issues, although there is still work to be done".
He too, while reserving judgment until today or tomorrow, acknowledged the need for real movement in the talks. "We are not opposed to George Mitchell putting forward his own proposals," he said.
The SDLP is likely to be more sanguine about Mr Mitchell's document, considering that deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, yesterday issued a paper proposing that "no later" than today all parties should agree a set of procedures.
"I think it was inevitable that once it became obvious that Mr Mitchell was not going to get any, movement from the unionists on procedural matters that he was going to have to take such a step," said Mr Mallon last night.
"The very minimum reassurance needed in the present crisis of political confidence is that the negotiations can go straight into, substantive issues immediately they resume," he added.
Unionists objected to the SDLP presenting them with an "ultimatum", however. It was suggested last night that unionists might dig their heels in until Thursday before possibly accepting Mr Mitchell's proposals.
This would ensure that they would not be perceived as submitting themselves to the SDLP's deadline of today, said a leading talks source.
The Alliance Party was also happy with Mr Mitchell's initiative.
"I believed all along that it would be up to somebody like George Mitchell to produce ideas that could be acceptable to the parties," said party chief whip, Mr Sean Neeson.
"It was unlikely that the parties could ever have agreed on the procedural issues, so therefore I welcome George Mitchell's intervention," he added.
Earlier yesterday, the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, claimed that he had succeeded in "clipping the wings" of Mr Mitchell. Dr Paisley said he had been informed by Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, that a previous British government position paper had been jettisoned, thus limiting his role. The development meant that the parties would decide the role and function of Mr Mitchell.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, however countered that this was the position achieved by his party when the talks began Just over six weeks ago. "I am very glad that Dr Paisley has conceded the success that we achieved on June 12th, and which we have all been collectively building on by re-writing the procedural rules," he added.
