Richard Haass Meets NI parties
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1.00 News: Brendan Wright reports on the ongoing attempt to find grounds for agreement on elections
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9.00 News: Tommie Gorman, Northern Editor, reports on a day of meetings between parties in the North and the US envoy, Ambassador Richard Haass
Richard Haass, the White House special envoy to the North, spent the day meeting most of the key participants in the peace process, including the pro-Agreement parties, Ian Paisley's DUP, loyalists and the head of the decommissioning body John de Chastelain.
After his hectic round of engagements, Mr Haass was extremely upbeat about the prospects of an agreement between the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin.
He said he was not 100% certain that the political deadlock would be broken, or that the Stormont institutions would be restored, but he said he encountered among the pro-Agreement parties a genuine desire to achieve closure.
He said the level and quality of the political engagement was the best he had seen in his three years as US envoy.
