AS EFFORTS continue in Dublin and London to restart the ceasefire with a series of planned meetings, additional British troops have been committed to Northern Ireland to provide support for the RUC.
A battalion of 500 Royal Irish Regiment soldiers will be flown in during the next 48 hours to provide support for the RUC following the end of the IRA ceasefire.
Meanwhile, efforts continue in Dublin and London to restore the ceasefire. Senior Government officials will meet the Sinn Fein leadership at a secret venue tomorrow to assess if the IRA ceasefire can be restored. And Anglo Irish officials meet in London today to undertake the preparatory work for the proposed summit between Mr Bruton and Mr Major in London at the end of next week.
Leading Democratic Unionists and SDLP members will meet next week in Northern Ireland for discussions. The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, and the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, agreed the meeting in Strasbourg yesterday as the European Parliament debated Northern Ireland.
Troops from the RIR 1st Battalion are being moved from their base in Catterick, north Yorkshire, amid fears that the IRA could be preparing to launch a gun or bomb attack in Northern Ireland. Security sources stressed that it was a precautionary measure.
It is believed that the soldiers will he posted along the Border in Cos Armagh and Fermanagh where the threat of a return to IRA violence is believed to be greatest.
There was concern that the British intended to deploy the extra troops as a direct challenge to the IRA. Mr Seamus Mallon of the SDLP last night said the possible deployment of so many additional troops in that area at this time defied belief.
The SDLP MP for West Belfast, Dr Joe Hendron, said he did not understand why more troops were being moved back to the North when the IRA threat appeared to be in England.
The new deployment brings troop levels back to 17,000. Sinn Fein described the redeployment as a backward step.
An RUC spokesman said "Security measures are under constant review, and steps will be taken as are considered appropriate." Three battalions, comprising 1,600 men, have been pulled out of Northern Ireland since the IRA ceasefire.
Senior Dublin officials will meet the leadership of Sinn Fein at a secret venue tomorrow.
A Government spokesman refused to give any information about the meeting, the first since the Docklands bombing on Friday. It will not take place at Government Buildings. The president of Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams and the ardcomhairle member, Mr Martin McGuinness, will attend.
Meanwhile, Anglo Irish officials meet in London today to undertake the preparatory work for the proposed summit between Mr Bruton and Mr Major in London at the end of next week. The Irish officials are anxious to test the conciliatory tone of the British Prime Minister's speech in the House of Commons last Monday.
Although the two governments are edging towards some form of elective process as a precondition for direct and speedy entry into all party talks, it is understood that Dublin has not yet put forward any proposals on its preferred model.
The calling of proximity talks, as a clearing house for Northern parties to consider proposals for the way forward, is being pushed by the Irish side.
In the event of an elective process being formally agreed, the Government seems to favour a list system on a Euro constituency model. The North would be one constituency and the election would amount to a plebiscite among the parties.
The minimum threshold for a seat would have to be as low as per cent of the votes in order to ensure participation of the fringe loyalist parties in subsequent negotiations.
At Fianna Fail's request, the Dail debate on the implications of the ending of the ceasefire will continue for a third day. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, will close the debate later today.
The British and Irish governments were offered the full support of the EU by the representative of the Italian presidency, Mr Walter Gardini, in the European Parliament, following last week's bomb attack in London.
"We cannot yield to terrorism," the President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, told the assembly, vowing to continue EU aid to help the peace process.
The President, Mrs Robinson, travels to Northern Ireland today.
She will attend an engagement in Lisburn, Co Antrim, and a cross Border trade union conference in Newcastle, Co Down.