'Breakthrough needed' in NI process

Mr Blair said the political process had to be reinvigorated

There must be a breakthrough in Northern Ireland's political process before European elections are held in June, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.

Mr Blair was speaking on Tuesday after he and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern held a series of talks with parties in a fresh attempt to lay the groundwork for a revival of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The prime minister said the political process had to be reinvigorated as soon as possible.

"What we've got to do is make sure we get a way forward before the June elections," he said.

He added: "I don't think we can wait and let this drift into the summer - I think it is important that we deal with this now.

"We will continue to have informal discussions with the parties and if we can move into a more intensive engagement, we will do so."

Mr Ahern said that the situation needed to be resolved urgently.

"We need to fast track the political situation and get the institutions up and running within a reasonable timeframe," he said.

The parties took turns to meet the prime ministers

The talks were aimed at exploring the feasibility of the premiers' promise to fast track the stalled review of the Good Friday Agreement which they made in Dublin earlier this month.

Mr Blair and Mr Ahern now plan to hold further discussions.

The latest deadlock in the political process follows claims of IRA involvement in the alleged false imprisonment of a dissident republican in Belfast in February.

Claims by Chief Constable Hugh Orde that Provisional IRA members were behind it have overshadowed the review of the Agreement, with UUP leader David Trimble walking out of the talks.

Following last November's assembly election, the Democratic Unionist Party overtook the UUP as the main unionist party in Northern Ireland. With the DUP refusing to negotiate with Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists not participating in the review, no round table sessions is being held.

Now is the time for the government to demonstrate to Sinn Fein/IRA that the threat of terror will no longer buy them further concessions Ian Paisley Democratic Unionist leader

The parties took turns to meet the two prime ministers.

Mr Blair and Mr Ahern were expected to stress the need for an end to paramilitary activity in their meetings with Sinn Fein and the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party which is linked to the UVF.

Speaking after the DUP's meeting with the two prime ministers, party leader Ian Paisley said: "There can be no blank cheques given to IRA/Sinn Fein.

"Now is the time for the government to demonstrate to Sinn Fein/IRA that the threat of terror will no longer buy them further concessions."

Mr Paisley said Sinn Fein must "leave the past behind them" in a way that is clear and durable.

'Momentum'

After the Ulster Unionist Party's discussion with the two prime ministers, David Trimble said it was a very focused meeting.

"I think the government intends to put some pretty firm propositions to people," Mr Trimble said.

If we take the two governments at their word and the DUP are up for an agreement, I think there is a prospect that we can move forward by June Martin McGuinness Sinn Fein

He added that there had to be "something clear on the down side for paramilitaries" if they did not comply.

"What we suggested to the government is that, in the event of there being a negative report by the monitoring commission on any paramilitary organisation, recognition of ceasefire should be withdrawn.

"The Northern Ireland Office should examine on a case by case basis whether members of the organisation who have benefited from the early release programme should be recalled to prison."

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said after meeting Mr Blair and Mr Ahern that his party wanted to see movement as soon as possible.

He added that they had seen no evidence that the DUP was ready to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement.

"Is it achievable that we can move forward? If we take the two governments at their word and the DUP are up for an agreement, I think there is a prospect that we can move forward by June," he said.

"A lot of work will have to be done before we reach that point."

'Not confident'

After the SDLP's meeting, party leader Mark Durkan said he was not confident that the process could be moved forward at the moment.

"The SDLP wants an end to all the cop-outs and opt-outs," he said.

"The SDLP also insisted there must be an end to paramilitarism, republican and loyalist. Without this, the reality is progress will not be made."

Alliance leader David Ford called on the two governments to make it clear that the political process would go on, if the paramilitaries failed in their act of completion.

"The people of Northern Ireland need to hear from the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach that there is a political process, that it will continue and that they are firmly committed to working with those parties which will work under normal principles of democracy," he said.

As the prime ministers arrived at Stormont, a group of about 30 people staged a protest against alleged collusion between the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries.

The political institutions in Northern Ireland were suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence-gathering in the Stormont government.