DUP in 'useful' talks with Blair

Mr Paisley led a delegation to speak to Tony Blair

A DUP delegation led by party leader Ian Paisley have held what has been described as a "very useful" meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr Paisley was accompanied by Nigel Dodds, Peter Robinson and Lord Morrow to the Downing Street talks.

The DUP leader said they discussed "very many things that cause us great trouble and concern".

"The clock has ticked and we've had no real progress from the IRA/Sinn Fein," he told a news conference.

"Now they must put their money where their mouth is and they must move."

Mr Dodds, the North Belfast MP, said it had been a "useful exchange".

"We concentrated on the delivery from Sinn Fein of the things that they need to do and the delivery from government on the things that they need to do," he said.

"We pressed them very strongly of the need for both of those people to get on with it, because time is clearly of the essence."

Restoring devolution

Ahead of the meeting, the party said it wanted to discuss several outstanding issues with Mr Blair - including policing and an economic package.

Mr Blair met Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on Monday to discuss the timetable set out at the St Andrews talks for restoring devolution.

Mr Ahern also raised the issue of collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Last week, an Irish parliamentary report found there was security force collusion in a series of loyalist bombings and killings in the 1970s.