The talks at Stormont on the Good Friday Agreement have ended for the night. They are to be resumed in the morning. The Ulster Unionist negotiator, Michael McGimpsey, said the central issues still remained unresolved. But he was satisfied the negotiations were continuing in good faith. Sinn Fein's Mitchell McLoughlin said time for agreement was getting very short and the main issue was reaching agreement on the setting up of the new political institutions. Talks continued all day with George Mitchell spending the morning in discussions with the smaller parties and the SDLP. Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists had been expected to meet him this afternoon, but their teams arrived this evening. It is known that David Trimble met with his assembly party earlier.
Earlier, both Peter Mandelson and Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said the process was at a crucial stage. Mitchel McLaughlin, said that he believed the Senator was very close to making a judgement on whether the talks review would work. The Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson has said that he believes that the achievement of an unbreakable peace is now within the grasp of the Northern Irish parties. Speaking in London today, at a lunch hosted by the Ireland Fund of Great Britain, he said that Republicans and Unionists had been talking to each other in an atmosphere of trust and co-operation.
Mr Mandelson said that all the pro-Agreement parties had shown courage, and described David Trimble as the embodiment of progressive modern Unionism. Mr Mandelson said that Gerry Adams had taken brave and crucial strides and brought Sinn Féin in from the cold. He added, "if those people talking in Stormont today blow it, it will be a missed opportunity that will threaten the lives of many for a generation."
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil that if the Mitchell review ends in failure, the two governments will try to implement as much of the Good Friday Agreement as possible. However, he said both governments would be doing everything in their power to assist Senator Mitchell and the parties to reach a successful conclusion in the coming days or weeks. He said that the process was now at a delicate stage and that he would not speculate on rumours that the IRA were about to begin decommissioning.
