The British Prime Minister has told a joint news conference at Hillsborough Castle that the Northern Ireland peace talks have been adjourned until April 13. Tony Blair said there would be a "pause for reflection" before a "final round" of talks was reconvened. Mr Blair said a basis for agreement had been reached, and that both governments were convinced they would get full agreement from all parties for a declaration setting out the schedule for establishing the executive and decommissioning.
Mr Blair said there would be a collective act of reconciliation, not later than one month after the Northern Secretary triggered the formation of the new executive. He added that at that point arms would be put beyond use in a mannner verified by the independent commission for decommissiong. Mr Blair said all the parties were agreed on three things: that the Good Friday Agreement must be implemented in full; that violence must be given up for good under the timescale set out in the Agreement; and that all the parties recognised the democratic mandate of others.
The Taoiseach, who also addressed the conference, said he was satisfied they had succeeded in overcoming the last significant hurdles, and he had no doubt that the spirit of peace would prevail. It is understood that Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists were unable to reach agreement on a deal to permit the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly. General John de Chastelain, John Hume and Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble also addressed the conference. David Trimble said the talks had made more progress than he had anticipated. John Hume said they had reached a firm basis for agreement and that he expects full agreement will be reached.
The Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, said they were disappointed and frustrated that the deadline for the establishment of the Executive has again been missed. Mr Adams said Sinn Féin has made clear both publicly and privately that they could not deliver the Unionist demand for IRA weapons. He said Sinn Féin will return to the renewed discussions determined to see this agreement implemented in full. The SDLP has said it is confident the basis for agreement exists, but it also expressed its regret that no agreement was reached today.
The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister returned to Hillsborough Castle near Belfast last night fuelling speculation that an agreement was imminent. However, after twenty hours of talks Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists were unable to reach agreement. There were mixed views on how much progress had been made after the all-night session. Spokesmen for the Irish and British governments said this morning that key elements of a deal were falling into place. But the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin gave more cautious assessments. The fact that most of the Ulster Unionist Assembly party and senior members of Sinn Féin's Ard Comhairle are attending the talks had fuelled speculation that some kind of a deal would have been put forward this morning.
Shortly after 4am this morning, the Alliance party leader Sean Neeson emerged from the talks and said that the parties were considering a formula aimed at resolving the deadlock. Mr Neeson told reporters that the formula was novel and reflected the concerns of all sides that have "problems with the major problem: decommissioning." He said that it was too early to say whether the formula would be successful but added that he was optimistic at that point. An hour earlier, three Ulster Unionist assembly members left the talks. Roy Beggs Junior, told reporters that there was nothing on the table he liked.
