Ahern, Blair to hold all-party talks in February

The Taoiseach Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair are to hold talks with the Northern Irish parties in Northern…

The Taoiseach Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair are to hold talks with the Northern Irish parties in Northern Ireland on February 12th, Downing Street confirmed today.

The news comes as the Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble denounced the round-table talks currently taking place at Stormont as a "facade".

The Upper Bann MP confirmed his party would not be attending the round-table discussion chaired by the Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Paul Murphy and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Cowen, because of "specific objections about the way these talks have been structured".

He claimed they did not respect constitutional principles.

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Mr Trimble also said: "The truth is these talks are a facade. They are intended to give an impression that something is happening while the real business is elsewhere."

The UUP's non-participation means that no unionist party will be at the talks today.

However Mr Trimble insisted his party was still involved in a talks process engaging in face-to-face meetings with the Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern and Sinn Fein.

The anti-Belfast Agreement unionists, and the loyalist progressive unionists were also absent.

That left Sinn Fein, SDLP and the cross community Alliance Party and Women's Coalition. Today's talks were addressing the issues of paramilitarism, policing and demilitarisation.

PA