The Government has welcomed decisions by Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party to participate in today's review of the Belfast Agreement by the former US senator, Mr George Mitchell.
A Government spokesman said that having brought the process this far the two governments were determined there would be a resolution. The people of Ireland had voted for the agreement, he said, and there was no alternative.
Senator Mitchell will devote the first two days to exploring the positions of the pro-agreement parties to forming an executive and to decommissioning.
On Wednesday he will report back to the two governments on the potential for progress and compromise between the parties. The governments are hoping Senator Mitchell will bring a new perspective to the talks through a tightly-focused review. And while the Patten report on policing, to be published on Thursday, has the capacity to cause political difficulties, there is growing confidence that it will not derail the process.
Last Saturday the Sinn Fein ardcomhairle agreed to participate in the review. Despite "deep concern, reservations and cynicism" by members at the proposed review, the executive endorsed a recommendation by the party president, Mr Gerry Adams, and undertook "in the wider interests of the peace process to participate positively in the review".
A statement said they would enter the process with a positive approach "to do business and to ensure the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement".
Earlier the Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, had blamed the Ulster Unionist Party for seeking to renegotiate the Belfast Agreement and for breaching deadlines for setting up its institutions. The unionists must change their attitude to Sinn Fein, he said, while the British government must live up to its responsibilities.