Bruton insists on February talks

THE Taoiseach is "unwilling to entertain any change" in the joint commitment of the British and Irish governments to the "firm aim" of all party talks in the North by the end of February.

Mr Bruton, who was in Strasbourg to address the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, said yesterday he would not rule out elections in the North but that they could and should be part of the current political dialogue, which has four weeks to run.

"New ideas can be considered within the timeframe we have set", he told parliamentarians, "but must not be used to divert or delay us from our shared and agreed objective." The Taoiseach later warned that any proposal for election would have to command widespread support or it would not work. It would also have to conform to the three strand approach and to the agreed timetable.

There was laughter when the Taoiseach, a former member of the assembly, was introduced as the "Prime Minister of England" by the new German president of the assembly, Ms Leni Fischer. Ms Fischer apologised immediately.

Again and again, Mr Bruton returned to the November communique commitment by the two governments to the "firm aim" of all party talks at the end of February. What Mr John Major said in the Commons, he said, was qualified by that preceding commitment. "I'm sticking by that agreement." He added the word "agreed" at least twice to his script.

Mr Bruton warned that, above all, the momentum of the peace process should be maintained. "Momentum is vital in any negotiation," he said. "If momentum is maintained, the insoluble becomes soluble. If momentum is lost, minor issues can be elevated into roadblocks and issues of principle."

And he appealed to unionists to speak to Sinn Fein. "After 16 months without violence, surely unionists have now become confident enough to take the risk of talking to Sinn Fein. As Yitzhak Rabin said, you make peace with your enemies, not with your friends.

"So why not talk? The absence of dialogue leaves fertile ground for the prophets of war. Talking cannot hurt, it can only help. Many people find it inexplicable that after 16 months of relative peace the antagonists are not yet sitting, together in the same room.

Mr Bruton told parliamentarians that the Government "warmly welcomed" the Mitchell report, "which we believe gives everyone a basis to move forward without loss of principle, on the basis of reasonable compromises as set out in that report.

"The report, in a balanced and judicious way, presents a challenge to those parties associated with paramilitary violence - and also to those parties who find it nearly impossible to sit in the same room with parties previously associated with violence because of past hurts."

The Taoiseach set out the report's six "crucial" principles. These required a "total and absolute commitment" by all involved the process. There was a danger, he told journalists, of the discussion being diverted from the central issue of getting those commitments.

In his speech, he emphasised the necessity for both sides to be present at talks but even before the framework for three stranded talks was agreed the parties should talk to each other.

The Taoiseach spoke of the need for an agreed bill of rights for the North "or some other means of protecting basic rights (such as the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into national law) which would reassure both communities that any new agreement we seek will never allow any reversion to a pattern of supremacy and subordination from any quarter".

He said: "For that reason the Government is anxious to ensure that any future bill of rights adequately embraces not just individual but communal rights."