Even the most inveterate optimist could not have hoped that the planning for all party talks in the North would go smoothly. That thought should temper the realisation that the statements and texts issued yesterday belatedly by the two governments covering the negotiating process and the proposed agenda for the talks, do not represent the final word on these matters. Mr David Trimble has already served notice that he intends to question Mr George Mitchell in relation to the "over arching" chairman's role he has been assigned, though making it clear that he does not doubt Mr Mitchell's integrity or ability.
This is only the latest instance of a tendency to treat the preliminaries of dialogue as the opening skirmishes of the approaching battle. Rev Ian Paisley has gone further than Mr Trimble by appearing to find Mr Mitchell unacceptable for a leading part in the talks. Yet paradoxically, the former senator, along with his fellow members of the international body on decommissioning, have shown exceptional qualities of impartiality, detachment, and clear mindedness, when dealing with issues which normally excite bias, emotion and lack of logic. His (and their) suitability ought to be beyond question.
Mr Gerry Adams has still to give his response to the detailed arrangements for the talks. Both the Tanaiste and the Northern Secretary reiterated yesterday that restoration of the IRA ceasefire was an absolute condition for Sinn Fein's attendance. The reasons for this are quite clear and are rooted in democracy. The position has been formalised by the requirement that all participants must make a public statement, at the opening plenary session, of their total and absolute commitment to the Mitchell Report's principals of democracy and non violence. The Irish Times/MRBI Poll published today provides timely evidence that an overwhelming majority of people in this state reject the demand by Sinn Fein and the IRA for free entry to the talks. According to the poll, only 22 per cent of respondents supported the Sinn Fein/IRA position that there should be no preconditions, a drop compared with February, in spite of the fact that Mr Adams made it one of the fundamental issues of his campaign in the forum election. Decommissioning and the resumption of a cease fire are widely supported and perhaps most significant in view of the blank refusal of Sinn Fein and the IRA to contemplate any prior disarmament tire has actually been an increase in the number of people who believe that all IRA weapons must be decommissioned before talks begin. Clearly, the nationalist consensus that Mr Adams aspires to lead does not exist in the form he would like. This suspicion is strengthened by the other main finding of the poll, which confirms that a majority of people in this State no longer regard a united Ireland as their preferred option to solve the Northern problem.
Whether Mr Adams likes it or not, there are changes afoot in spite of his increased vote in the forum election, and many people have come to accept that peace must involve political compromise. The same realisation is required of Mr Trimble and the other Unionist leaders, who are likely to find fault with the proposed talks agenda which stipulates, among the "topics likely to arise" the constitutional position of the North. Mr Trimble has already declared that he will not discuss this subject but it will not contribute to meaningful negotiations if he maintains this position. There is sound common sense in the governments' view that, to build confidence, all parties must have an assurance that their traditions will be taken account of and that the aim is to find political arrangements acceptable to them all.
This guarantee is open to Sinn Fein as well if it can surmount the decommissioning hurdle and take part in the comprehensive process outlined yesterday. But it cannot expect to play by a different agenda.
