A SECOND meeting between Sinn Fein and British government officials is to be held "in the near future" following yesterday's three hour discussion at Stormont Castle.
The Mid Ulster MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, who led the Sinn Fein delegation, told reporters outside Stormont Castle a start had been made in overcoming difficulties in the peace process.
He hoped the Labour government would recognise that the Northern conflict was fundamentally political and reject what he called the "militaristic" approach of the previous administration.
The Sinn Fein delegation also included Mr Gerry Kelly, Ms Siobhan O'Hanlon and the party's general election candidate in the Cavan Monaghan constituency, Mr Caoimhgin O Calain.
Mr O Caolain said: "We'll be reporting back to our Sinn Fein ardchomhairle but we can state that in principle we have agreed to meet again.
Mr McGuinness said Sinn Fein considered the meeting a very important one.
"There are quite a number of difficulties, as you all well know, but there is a very strong desire within Sinn Fein to overcome those difficulties. We're very conscious that there is a new British government in place and I think we have today made a start in at tempting to overcome those difficulties."
Asked if he detected any change of attitude from the civil servants since they last met 15 months ago Mr McGuinness said: "It was very clear to me from their demeanour at the meeting that they are now working under a new set of employers."
Asked if a resolution of the conflict was any closer, Mr McGuinness replied: "It's too soon to say. What we have to see is both governments driving forward into a phase of conflict resolution the like of which we have never seen before."
He continued: "The reason we did not move forward over the last couple of years was because we were dealing with a British government that had a militaristic approach to resolving the conflict. I now hope that we are going to get a British government which recognises that the problem we have to solve is a political problem."
Asked if there had been clarification on the issues of a date for Sinn Fein's entry to talks and the timeframe within which the talks would take place, Mr McGuinness said: "We had a very in depth discussion about all of those matters."
Although the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, was not present at the meeting, she said at a later press conference at Stormont Castle: "I understand that they had an informed, constructive discussion and a number of issues were covered. There is a general feeling that they will be meeting again; in principle that was agreed.
"The time is not yet set but if things remain the same on the ground they will meet again in the near future."
She reiterated her government's intention to inject new life into the political situation: "We are trying to keep the momentum going in this process. We've been at it two weeks now. I'm off to America tomorrow, we've got a busy time in June, the parades are there. We will move. Tony [Blair] made it absolutely clear that we intend to get momentum into this and to get moving."
However, the Ulster Unionist Party's security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, said in a statement it was "almost beyond belief" that the meeting was scheduled the day of a local government election.