The pro-Union daily Northern Ireland newspaper, the News Letter, has warned against a negative reaction from unionist parties to the IRA ceasefire. The newspaper urges that the best option for unionists is to engage with Sinn Fein. In its editorial on Saturday the paper said: "A danger today is that unionists, preoccupied with trying to keep Sinn Fein out of talks until they are democratically decontaminated, fail to recognise the opportunities arising from Sinn Fein entering talks."
The editorial continues: "What would unionists have to fear? Very little, for it is Sinn Fein who would have most to lose when faced with the hard questions - particularly that of consent, which remains the rock on which the future of the union can be anchored, and on which dreams of Irish unity flounder.
"Another danger is that a grudging unionist reaction will see them again typecast as bigoted intransigents, a people impossible to do business with, who must be put in their place.
"New Labour has never said anything other than that it wants Sinn Fein to be involved in negotiations. The reality is that once in the IRA will never be able to return to violence again without incurring the wrath of the British government, and if they have any sense of justice, that of the Dublin administration as well."