Key NI talks continue into night

Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley are attending the talks

Northern Ireland's politicians are expected to work late into the night as intensive talks aimed at restoring devolved government continue.

The talks, which began on Thursday at Leeds Castle in Kent, are seen as the most important since the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The discussions are aimed at resolving issues surrounding the deadlock over the IRA's continued existence and power-sharing at Stormont.

Amid tight security, British and Irish Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern are working to break down differences between the two main participants, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein led by Gerry Adams.

The session is scheduled to end by lunchtime on Saturday.

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Although there has not been any breakthrough so far, the prime ministers are understood to be pleased that the talking has kept going.

Meanwhile, a short distance away, south Armagh victims campaigner William Frazer was arrested on Friday afternoon by Kent police.

A police spokeswoman said he had been arrested at the media centre for the Leeds Castle talks to prevent a breach of the peace.

Mr Frazer was arrested at the media centre for the talks

One of Mr Frazer's colleagues said they had been asked to leave the hotel which is about a mile from Leeds Castle. Mr Frazer was released without charge on Friday evening.

'Limited progress'

At Leeds Castle on Friday, the DUP said a deal to restore devolution would not be reached until progress was made.

Gregory Campbell, DUP, said: "We need to see the IRA out of business, all of their guns and arms decommissioned and then we need to see acceptable structures in place, that is what the discussions are about."

Speaking on Friday evening, Sinn Fein's Pat Doherty dismissed rumours of a potential IRA statement aimed at satisfying the other parties.

"That is a distraction. It is not about IRA words, it is about getting the institutions and the Good Friday Agreement embedded," he said.

Earlier, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said people were about to find out if republicans were willing to abandon "their private army".

He said getting "clarity" on the republican position was needed.

Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair are chairing three days of talks

The prime minister's official spokesman said on Friday that he was prepared to stick with the talks.

"We wouldn't still be here unless work was being done - and work is being done," he said.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said he believed things were "grinding along reasonably".

However, he said he hoped the day would see "more focus and substance on some issues".

Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine said if the outline of a deal was not found on Friday, the premiers would leave the Leeds Castle talks.

He added: "I think the DUP have a choice - either to do a deal with Sinn Fein or to allow the government to... do a deal with Sinn Fein and then huff and puff."

The DUP said Mr Blair had "set the bar and the IRA must get over it" by going out of existence - or else there would be no deal.

It described the mood as upbeat, but one republican appeared pessimistic unless there was "dramatic or serious movement from the governments it was difficult to see how progress could be made".

The talks at Leeds Castle are scheduled to last for three days

A government source said ideas were being bandied around, but so far there was no sign of a paper being produced setting out the governments' outline of a possible way forward.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Blair said it was "the moment of decision".

He said the negotiations were "a test of leadership, political will and whether we are prepared to listen to the yearning of the people" for peace.

Mr Ahern said he hoped these talks were "not just another part of the process".

The agenda at Leeds Castle includes issues such as the continued existence of the IRA, decommissioning, policing and undertakings from unionists to make the institutions work.

The talks must be wrapped up by Saturday lunchtime, as a wedding party is being held at the venue that afternoon.

The political institutions in Northern Ireland were suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the Northern Ireland Office.