Irish Peace Talks: Ireland's hope for a new dawn

THE PEOPLE of Northern Ireland went to bed last night hopeful of awakening to a new dawn holding the promise of political progress, peace and eventual reconciliation.

At the end of a day of frenetic activity, the vital Stormont talks missed their midnight deadline. But, with a deal looking agonisingly close, the negotiators decided to plough on through the night in a search for full agreement.

Even after midnight, stubbornly unresolved points of key detail were giving problems, though most observers detected an underlying optimism.

The eyes of the world were on the Stormont talks complex in Belfast throughout the day as Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, nudged and cajoled the parties towards agreement.

Last night they appeared close to success as the Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble received the endorsement of his party executive for the emerging deal.

But there were ugly signs of things to come when flag-waving loyalist protesters jostled police in Belfast city centre and later broke through the main gate of the Stormont complex.

Just before midnight the Rev Ian Paisley and colleagues were allowed into the media area in front of the talks building, where the Democratic Unionist Party leader staged a rowdy press conference claiming his political rights were being trampled on. He wanted last-minute access to the talks building but claimed the Government had undemocratically refused him entry. The DUP withdrew from the talks last September.

Earlier, Sinn Fein made it clear that a Unionist attempt to re-negotiate the key north-south cross-border bodies was not acceptable. Party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin described the Unionist plan as "effectively taking the guts out of the proposal" originally formulated with the approval of the British and Irish governments.

The first sign of a breakthrough was reported at 6pm by UUP deputy leader John Taylor MP, who declared: "We are moving in the right direction. We've now more or less agreed the north-south link, but we've got to get a strong east-west link agreed also and then the whole issue of the assembly, its structure and decision-making procedures."

Mr Taylor's assessment was endorsed by Social Democratic and Labour Party deputy leader Seamus Mallon, who said: "It may well be moving in that direction. I think there's going to be a deal. I hope it will be tonight."

Agreement in the talks, though vital, represents only the beginning of an arduous political process which will entail placing the agreement before the electorate for endorsement in referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Success will also depend on all the elements involved receiving the approval of their grassroots. There has already been some splintering on the issue within Sinn Fein and the IRA; the calculation of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams will be that most of the potential dissidents have now gone, and that the accord can be successfully sold to the vast majority of republicans who remain.

But dissent is already visible on the Unionist side, where Mr Paisley is vowing to smash whatever agreement should emerge. Last night he announced that an agreement would mean officially sanctioned paramilitary policing - "You're going to have gunmen in uniform being policemen," he declared.

Mr Trimble was clearly concerned to cover himself against allegations of reaching an agreement without properly taking soundings from the Unionist grassroots. Such accusations have in the past proved damaging for previous Unionist leaders.

The mood at Stormont yesterday varied greatly as the day wore on. One participant said: "It's been up and down all day, we're frustrated and we're tired as well. But we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we're still buoyant."

The first official admission that the talks might not be complete by the midnight deadline came, bizarrely, from Kentucky, where US President Bill Clinton's spokesman, Mike McCurry, said the president had been told by George Mitchell, the talks chairman, that "agreement is near but the talks will probably go past the deadline".

Last night the two governments were planning to produce another paper in succession to that delivered to the parties by Mr Mitchell earlier this week. This would represent a near-final version of an agreement.