IT WAS a matter of regret and concern to the Government that the rate of progress in the Northern talks had been disappointingly slow, the Tanaiste said.

Contrary to some recent and rather astonishing statements by some unionist spokespersons that this is because the two governments had a foot on the brake while waiting for Sinn Fein, I want to state clearly that the governments, and indeed all other participants, except the three unionist parties, have been seeking eagerly to get into the substantive phase of the negotiations since June 10th," Mr Spring added.

The main stumbling block in the talks so far had been the shadow of the decommissioning issue which, intentionally or otherwise, was being developed by the unionist parties into a hurdle that the republican leadership would find impossible to clear, said the Tanaiste.

"The Government has made clear that it sees decommissioning as an essential part of any comprehensive peace settlement. We have shown by our actions, including the preparation of legislation, that everything that lies in our power will be done to further that objective."

However, there was little point in the Government, or anyone else, pretending they would do things on decommissioning that were not in their power.

The Republic's security forces had a "decommissioning policy" from the beginning to do their utmost to detect and confiscate illegal weaponry. "They will leave no stone unturned in this respect in the future."

But they must cot confuse this necessary exercise with the wider ambition to persuade those who had so far eluded detection to disarm voluntarily, said Mr Spring.

"That wider goal can only be achieved through an inclusive process of negotiation and with the co operation of those who hold the weapons. That is a political challenge, and it is for the unionist parties as well as the others to create the political climate when it can become a reality."