UUP boycott round table talks

David Trimble will not be at Thursday's talks

The Ulster Unionists will not be taking part in round-table talks at Stormont, party leader David Trimble has confirmed.

He said those taking part would be going through the motions, pretending something was happening, when in fact the real business was happening elsewhere.

Round-table talks on the political impasse in Northern Ireland are set to go ahead without any unionist involvement on Thursday afternoon.

They have decided to boycott Thursday's session at Stormont, with the parties citing different reasons.

The parties attending the talks will discuss issues like confidence, justice and policing. They include Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance and the Women's Coalition.

Mr Trimble has said his party "will only attend the meetings which matter".

Gerry Adams is awaiting the government's response

The loyalist Progressive Unionist Party withdrew from the talks, claiming it was being sidelined while the UK Unionists said the meetings had become a farce.

Earlier this week, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Paul Murphy, pointed out that the Stormont talks were not the only show in town.

In the background, republicans are waiting for a response to the 57-page document they presented to the British Government before Christmas.

That is expected within the next week to 10 days.

They want so-called acts of completion in areas like demilitarisation, policing and on-the-run prisoners.

But government sources said a radical response would only be possible if the IRA was prepared to do what was required of it.

'Juggernaut halted'

Northern Ireland's devolved institutions were suspended on 14 October 2002 following a row over allegations of IRA activity, including alleged spying within the Northern Ireland Office.

Despite attempts by the British and Irish Governments, there is still no sign of a deal that would see the Ulster Unionists return to power-sharing with Sinn Fein.

Last week, Mr Trimble said Sinn Fein had not been smashed but had been hollowed out.

He said the "IRA juggernaut" had now been halted.

Last Friday, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the government was not moving quickly enough on the outstanding issues in the peace process.

Mr Adams said he was impatient with the pace of politics in terms of changes to policing and demilitarisation.