The deputy first minister of the new power-sharing assembly in Northern Ireland, Seamus Mallon, says he's hopeful a breakthrough is in sight in the peace process, which has been deadlocked for several weeks.

The British prime minister, Tony Blair, is travelling to Belfast for talks with the Protestant chief minister of the assembly, David Trimble, who insists that the next move must be a start to the disarming of the IRA.

But the IRA's political ally, Sinn Fein, says the appointment of an executive for the province, including a seat for Sinn Fein, and the creation of cross-border bodies, drawn from both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, must come next.