THE Ulster Unionist Party knew last week that the IRA was about to launch a major bombing attack in Britain, the UUP security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, said yesterday.
"We knew beyond doubt that the IRA was about to detonate a huge bomb. We believed it would probably be in London. As it turned out, it was in Manchester."
The information was passed on to the security forces and the Northern Ireland Office.
This was "one of the considerations that had to be given cognisance" during the crisis meeting of the multi party talks last Tuesday night. "We knew that we couldn't walk away," he said.
A UUP delegation led by Mr David Trimble met the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, for about 45 minutes yesterday at Stormont Castle.
"We discussed first of all the impact on the political talks process of what happened on Saturday and at Ad are and throughout the past few weeks," Mr Maginnis said. "But it wasn't just that we talked to him about what punitive measures can be taken against the IRA's activity against society."
Mr Maginnis refused to give specific details of the discussions.
"We are not going to `flag up' for Sinn Fein IRA or for anybody else what might be done, beyond saying that the Secretary of State had no difference with us."
Earlier, on his way to the meeting, the UUP leader, Mr Trimble, said the delegation would be telling Sir Patrick "very firmly" that there was a need for a security response to the Manchester bomb.
"His attitude with regard to Sinn Fein IRA over recent years has been all carrot and no stick and we have to show not only that Sinn Fein IRA will derive no benefit from the bomb but also that they will suffer penalties."
It was also necessary to be realistic, he said. "The events at Manchester and Adare demonstrate that Sinn Fein are not able to meet the requirements for participation in this process."
Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is close to the UVF, admitted that the loyalist ceasefire was under strain. "Every time the IRA explode a bomb and say `stuff the peace process', the closer we get to a resumption of loyalist violence."
Mr Gary McMichael of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is close to the UDA, called on Mr John Hume to sever his links with Sinn Fein.