Mr Gerry Adams has given no clue as to whether Sinn Féin will sign up to the British/Irish proposals to restore the North's power-sharing political institutions, saying his party has concerns about them, but these concerns may be resolved. Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, reports.
Mr Adams carefully left open the possibilities of accepting or rejecting the proposals last night after four hours of talks with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and senior Government officials. The talks, initially intended as an event at which the governments' proposals would be presented to Sinn Féin, was described as "negotiations" by Sinn Féin's leader in the Northern Assembly, Mr Conor Murphy.
As the DUP leadership continued its meeting with Mr Blair in Downing Street, Mr Adams emerged from the discussions with a prepared statement saying that there were "issues of concern" for his party in the joint proposals, and that "these proposals have to be grounded in the Good Friday agreement".
But he went on: "Having said that, we do believe that if these concerns are adequately dealt with that there could be the basis for a comprehensive agreement and we are going to work this week to achieve that."
The governments' proposals are believed to contain detailed proposals on weapons decommissioning, the restoration of the power-sharing institutions and the devolution of control over policing to the North's Executive.
The Government gave no details of the talks last night, a spokeswoman confining herself to saying the discussions had been "productive".
The issue of greatest sensitivity for the Republican movement is that of weapons. The governments are believed to have proposed a formula to ensure a "visual aspect" to decommissioning in order to maximise unionist confidence that weapons have been put beyond use.
Mr Adams will lead a Sinn Féin delegation for talks today at Downing Street with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
"We have cleared our diaries," he said. They were working to the deadline of the end of this month set by the Taoiseach, and "we are going to try and make this work".
In response to questions, he repeated that there were concerns for Sinn Féin - that there was "work to be done" - but said:
"We think they can be addressed. If they are properly addressed and we can get all this forward movement grounded in the agreement then we believe we can get comprehensive agreement." The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, warned yesterday that the governments' proposal "isn't as complete or as balanced as some people are claiming".
Mr Durkan, who was briefed on the proposals by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, in Dublin yesterday morning, said he believed too much was being conceded to the DUP on political institutions. He warned that some proposals, such as a change in the method of electing the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, involved "a bigger political change than people are presenting it as".
Meanwhile the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, met at Iveagh House to mark the presentation of the governments' proposal to the parties.
Mr Ahern said the governments were seeking agreement within "days rather than weeks". They were working to a deadline of the end of the month, although "things might happen quicker than that. I hope they will".
Mr Murphy said the people of Northern Ireland wanted a deal and the Assembly back.