The Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has called on republicans not to underestimate the challenges facing unionism. Addressing his party's National Women's Conference in Dublin today, Mr Adams said some unionists had faced up to these challenges with courage. He said there were members of the unionist community and leaders among them who wanted to set aside the old ways. Mr Adams told delegates that unionists feared change and tried to minimise it and that this placed a huge burden on any unionist leadership.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party has warned the Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson not to get involved in trying to sell the latest proposals to unionists. Earlier, it was reported that Mr Mandelson had offered to speak to Ulster Unionist constituency associations to try to persuade them to accept proposals tabled by republicans at last week's Stormont discussions. However, it is believed that Mr Mandelson would only address the associations if invited to do so.
