AS Government sources expressed deep concern at the Ulster Unionist Party declaration on decommissioning, an official statement insisted that the weapons issue can only be realistically dealt with through the Mitchell Report.
Following the publication of the UUP proposals on decommissioning and the loyalist prisoners withdrawal of support for the peace process, sources in Dublin last night conceded that it was now "very difficult to make progress".
The Tanaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said the statement from the loyalist prisoners was a very serious development" which he deeply regretted. The loyalists had been very stoical over the last 18 months" and he hoped the decision would not result in a return to violence. He insisted that "irrespective of any setbacks, the two Governments remain committed to the peace process".
A Government spokesman said the Government would consider the UUP document in detail and the proposals would probably be debated in a plenary session of the talks at Stormont.
He insisted that a whole pattern of difficulties had marked the process since its inception but that the latest developments did not herald the collapse or failure of the talks.
In spite of the official refusal to concede to pessimism, other senior sources said they believed the UUP paper was particularly unhelpful as it insisted on attaining the unachievable. Its demands seemed to guarantee that Sinn Fe in would not have a placed at the table, one source said.
Responding to the UUP press conference, the Irish Government's statement - issued through their delegation at Stormont - reiterated a firm commitment to the decommissioning of all illegally held weapons "on the lines set out in the International Body's Report".