THE Tanaiste impressed on US President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at talks in Washington yesterday the urgency of "proximity talks" as the next step in the peace process.
Mr Spring said afterwards the President undertook "to consider the proposals that we made to the British government over the last week".
He emphasised, however, that he was not seeking an American involvement in the process at this stage, though it was modelled on the US brokered Bosnia peace talks at Dayton, Ohio.
Mr Spring also met Senator George Mitchell in the US State Department and hinted at the further involvement of the former Senate majority leader, who chaired the international body on arms decommissioning.
Asked if Mr Mitchell had a political role to play now, Mr Spring said this was not discussed but that "he has an ongoing interest in Northern Ireland and I think he has certainly earned respect from all sides for the report produced and we will be having discussions with him".
Mr Mitchell is to visit the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, in London in the next 10 days, an Irish official said.
Mr Mitchell said two weeks ago after meeting Mr Clinton he was prepared to help further the process any way he could.
Mr Spring is to return to the White House this morning for further talks with Mr Clinton's National Security Adviser, Mr Tony Lake, who has Just returned from South Korea.
Mr Spring said he discussed the possibility of elections during half an hour of talks with Mr Gore in the White House, which Mr Clinton joined for a time.
He told journalists afterwards that only by proximity talks could the nationalist side be sufficiently reassured about the intentions of the unionists, before entering into elections.
"The quality of assurance is going to necessitate some sort of proximity talks, to show that they are genuine and want to come to these talks looking for a settlement," he said.
"Agreement is possible on an elective package with guarantees from all that they are in this business for real."
They should put their proposals on the table and "see if we can reconcile competing interests" he said. "I believe that can be done if people want to make progress - and that's the other big question."
Mr Sean O Huiginn, head of the Anglo Irish division in the Department of Foreign Affairs, said if the ceasefire continued in a disciplined way and there were no prospects of all party talks, this would be decoded by nationalists to mean "you don't have a problem we think is worthwhile talking about".
Mr Spring characterised the recent comments of Mr John Taylor, MP, who said the Tanaiste was the most unpopular politician in Northern Ireland, as over the top.
"They may have overplayed that one in a big way," he said. "Any thinking, rational unionist would realise that I'm actually reaching out to unionists."
The White House said in a statement that President Clinton reiterated his long standing view that the path to a just and lasting settlement was through an inclusive dialogue, and that he emphasised "the importance of rapid progress to all party talks".
Following the Mitchell report, they encouraged all parties to focus on the political track of the twin track process in order to move rapidly to all party talks".
Mr Spring said: "We as a Government and the nationalist parties have reservations about elections. Elections tend to be divisive whereas negotiations can reach consensus ... The onus in relation to elections is on the British government and the unionist parties to convince the nationalist parties that the elective process can assist what we are trying to achieve and that is all party talks.
"We feel strongly that under the management and co partnership of both governments we could have proximity talks and they could be successful."