Review of agreement might be considered Trimble

The impasse in the Northern Ireland peace process might make it necessary to invoke the formal review procedure of the Belfast Agreement, the North's First Minister hinted yesterday.

Speaking to journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, Mr David Trimble insisted he was not calling for a review, but said the time had come when "it may be appropriate for us to consider a review".

Consultations with the other parties in the North would be necessary, he said, but "a formal review would be one within the framework". Nationalists have always resisted calls for use of the review mechanism because they fear it would lead to attempts by unionists to reopen the agreement itself.

Mr Trimble castigated both the SDLP and Sinn Fein for putting their mutual electoral competition ahead of the peace process, and warned that meant progress ahead of a British general election was unlikely.

However, the First Minister, who has not spoken of the use of the review procedure for some time, clearly wants to raise the ante by suggesting that it cannot be taken for granted that unionists will wait for ever.

The agreement "will not fail for want of effort on our part", he said, but he was entitled to ask more of those "who have demonstrably not done their part", particularly in relation to the functioning of the police and decommissioning.

Mr Trimble was in the US to attend a conference of the Conservative Political Action Committee, a caucus of the Republican hard right. On Thursday night he briefly met the Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney.

He also spoke at an American Enterprise Institute seminar on democracies and terrorism, and yesterday had a meeting with middle-ranking officials from the State Department and the National Security Council.

His visit is the first in a series of visits by leaders from Britain and Ireland. The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, will be here next weekend for two days, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, the following week.

Mr Trimble said he did not expect the US to be as closely involved in the detail of the peace process under the new administration but would be raising two things in particular.

First, to complete the process started by President Clinton of listing both the "Real IRA" and Continuity IRA as terrorist organisations and cutting the supply of funds in the US.

He would also ask for a re-examination of the details surrounding the recent trial and conviction of IRA members in Florida for attempted gunrunning.

If it turned out the IRA had been involved in a major operation to resupply after the agreement came into force, that would signal a significant "breach of faith" to which unionists would wish to respond.

Asked whether he would support British accession to the euro, Mr Trimble said it was clear the economic circumstances were not right, particularly the over-valued sterling. There were also "political and constitutional implications", he said, pointing to the censure, and possibility of a fine, of the Republic over an "entirely appropriate" Budget.

Asked if he regretted there was unlikely to be a St Patrick's Day reception in the White House this year, Mr Trimble said it did not worry him and it might mean the British embassy lunch on March 16th would become the main event.

That would be entirely appropriate, he said. "After all, St Patrick came from England."