Taoiseach meets pro-Agreement parties in London

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is in Downing Street this evening for the latest round of talks aimed at reviving the North's troubled…

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is in Downing Street this evening for the latest round of talks aimed at reviving the North's troubled political process.

Mr Ahern met the Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble for the first of a series of meetings this afternoon with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Northern Ireland's pro-Agreement parties.

Mr Blair and Mr Ahern are also holding talks with Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Alliance Party and the Progressive Unionist Party. It is their first round of meetings with the parties since last month's Assembly election.

Mr Blair yesterday held talks with the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists, who warned they would never sit in Government with Sinn Féin.

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The British Prime Minister said a review of the Belfast Agreement would begin shortly but no timetable had yet been established.

"There is general agreement it should be a short and sharp and focused review of the way the institutions work and how we can overcome the current impasse," he said.