In a timely speech last night the Taoiseach addressed himself to the republican movement with a strong argument that the IRA ceasefire must be restored because the conditions it sought for all party negotiations have been agreed. He has a convincing case. Given that Northern Ireland remains, in his words, the Government's "number one priority", it is essential that it be put forcefully and determinedly in coming weeks as the Northern parties campaign in the forum elections and prepare for the negotiations.
Mr Bruton acknowledges in this speech that he has a particular responsibility to represent the views of nationalist Ireland. He spells out the political conditions that have been agreed. They provide for the talks to begin on June 10th, without any organic link to the forum, with the right of all parties to raise whatever they please, and maintaining the principle that nothing will be agreed in any strand of the talks until everything is agreed in the negotiations as a whole. It is a very substantial achievement to have reached this point, based on these principles they must be taken with the utmost seriousness by the republican movement, based squarely on the facts of the matter and the commitment they represent, rather than on any political prejudice about Mr Bruton's nationalist credentials.
He sets out an agenda for the talks which highlights the main concerns that must be dealt with, notably on arms decommissioning, North South cooperation, policing and the administration of justice, human rights, the imbalance in Northern unemployment patterns, and the areas of parity of esteem and equality of treatment. He suggests an indicative timeframe be laid down for the talks and invites unionists to recognise the "unrivalled opportunity that is now there for a historic compromise between the two great traditions in Ireland".
Much will depend on the attitudes of the unionists towards these talks. Mr Bruton is in no position to guarantee that they will be constructive, as some republican sources seem to suggest. But he can offer reassurances that the decommissioning issue will be handled seriously, though without allowing it to become a precondition that would indefinitely delay the negotiations. Hence the proposals put forward by the Government for a fourth strand of the talks on decommissioning, perhaps with the participation of the three men who so skillfully drafted the Mitchell principles. These proposals bear the most careful scrutiny by the unionist parties, together with Mr Bruton's offer in the Dail yesterday to provide a detailed briefing on the Government's intentions in the legislative arena.
The Government has its own campaigning to do on behalf of the agreements reached as the Northern parties face into the forum elections. So does the British government, despite its precarious circumstances. It would be a great mistake for republicans or unionists to conclude that substantive talks will not be possible before elections in this State or the UK to do so would endanger the historic opportunity now on offer.