Ahern & Blair 'No breakthrough' in talks
Talks at Downing Street involving the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister, as well as the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin, have ended without an announcement on whether or not a date for Northern Ireland's Assembly elections has been set.
After the talks, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said that contact between Sinn Féin and the two governments would continue.
Mr Trimble said real progress had been made but would not go into detail on outstanding issues which remain to be resolved. He said he wanted to see decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.
After he emerged, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said that there had been a series of positive engagements but that there was still a volume of work to be done.
Earlier, Mr Blair said the climate was conducive to finding a way forward. Mr Ahern said everyone was conscious that negotiations could not go on indefinitely.
