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Sinn Fein's continuing commitment to the terms of the Belfast Agreement and its decision to seek a series of formal and informal meetings with the Ulster Unionist Party over the course of the summer are positive signals emerging from the political gloom of Northern Ireland. The favourable response by the UUP to that overture must also be welcomed. A lack of trust between the two parties, linked to the twin difficulties of decommissioning and the establishment of an executive, is the single largest obstacle to progress. Detailed discussions at such meetings, in public and in private, could go some way towards addressing the concerns of both parties.

In its twelve-page document, Sinn Fein spoke of republicans "understanding the historic nature and the monumental shifts that are required if the peace process is to succeed". And it concluded that the process could not succeed without the positive involvement of Mr Tony Blair. A unionist veto could not be allowed to derail the process, Mr Gerry Adams said. In addition - and with a weather eye on simmering anger in the republican constituency over the rejection by the UUP of The Way Forward - Sinn Fein deferred a decision on whether it would engage in a review of the Agreement that will be chaired by former US Senator, George Mitchell, in the autumn .