David Trimble has said that any formula to rescue the Good Friday agreement would be unacceptable unless it called for full disarmament of paramilitary groups. Speaking in the United States, the Ulster Unionist leader said that the continued existence of paramilitary groups could not be legitimised.
Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair have announced that they will present their document to the parties in Northern Ireland by the middle of next week. They have also decided that it is to be published on the same day.
Document "our best effort"
Speaking after the meeting, the Taoiseach called on all the parties to carefully assess the document and to go with it. He added that it was not possible to do everything for everybody.
He accepted this phase had been agonising, but said that this document "is our best effort" and he called on the parties to support it and work with them.
The British Prime Minister has called on the parties to reply as soon as possible but not to give knee jerk reactions.
Hanging over the process is a deadline of 12 August, set by David Trimble's resignation as First Minister. If the two governments cannot get all-party agreement by then, they will either have to suspend the Northern institutions, or call fresh Assembly elections.
Four issues on the table
The four issues on the table are policing, demilitarisation, decommissioning, and the future stability of the institutions.
The Sinn Féin leader has said that his party would have to wait and see what was in the package. Gerry Adams had a longer than expected four-hour meeting with the Taoiseach last night. He repeated his party's insistence on progress on policing afterwards.
Two Unionist MPs withdraw
The Ulster Unionist MPs, Jeffrey Donaldson and David Burnside, have already said that they are withdrawing from the current negotiating process. On Morning Ireland, Mr Donaldson said that they had pulled out of the negotiations because, contrary to the claims of both governments that the package of proposals had been agreed, talks had been continuing with Sinn Féin.
Seamus Mallon of the SDLP claimed, on the same programme, that the Ulster Unionists had continued to make submissions to both governments. Mr Mallon said that the talks the Taoiseach had with Sinn Féin last night probably centred on decommissioning. However, he warned that drawn-out negotiations created distrust and damaged the prospects of reaching an agreement.
