THE dissident loyalist, Mr Bill Wright, has identified the Tanaiste's adviser, Mr Fergus Finlay, as the Government official who met him in his Portadown home last year.
In an interview with Clare FM radio station yesterday, Mr Wright said he and Mr Finlay had spoken for several hours. Those discussions involved an offer to meet an Irish Government Minister, Mr Wright claimed.
Now under death threat from the Combined Loyalist Military Command, Mr Wright said he rejected the prospect of a meeting with a Minister because he objected to the Irish Government's claim over his "country".
Mr Wright had previously indicated he had had a meeting with an Irish Government official anxious to hear his views on loyalist paramilitary thinking. But until now he had not revealed the identity of the official concerned.
The meeting took place some time after the publication of the Framework Document and this development was discussed by the two men.
Mr Wright is understood to have ed the meeting and, according to senior sources, the Government met his wishes on the grounds that it was willing to broaden all contacts with "every element of unionism".
Meanwhile, when asked yesterday about the loyalist threat to "certain people", the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, said the Government had been consistent in its resolute opposition to the use or threat of force, "or even the hint of the use of force as a means of influencing political activities or the activities of individuals".
Asked if there was now a need to reappraise the position of the fringe loyalist parties in the multi-party talks, Mr Bruton said a procedure existed which should be followed in relation to any complaint about compliance with the Mitchell principles.
The status of parties at the talks would be determined by the two governments on the basis of a report from the independent chairman. Senator George Mitchell was empowered to consider the views of all the participants on foot of a complaint lodged by a particular party. The two governments could act on his report, he said.