The Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, has been the subject of unionist anger for almost a week following her decision that the IRA's ceasefire had not been broken in spite of the organisations involvement in murder and gun-running.

A speech to Protestant and Catholic school children in County Antrim on Wednesday gave her a chance to set out her position.

Dr Mowlam admitted the past week had been tough but appealed to unionists and Sinn Fein not to walk away from the review of the Good Friday Agreement which begins on Monday, saying it was still the best hope for a peaceful settlement.

Death knell

The British and Irish Governments hope the review will get the stalled peace process back on track after a summer of disappointment.

The review will be chaired by the former United States Senator, George Mitchell, who was instrumental in persuading most of Northern Ireland's diverse political parties to sign up to the agreement in April 1998.

The IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, and the largest unionist group, the Ulster Unionist Party, have not yet said if they will take part in the review.

Both have been holding internal discussions and say they will make their decisions at the weekend.

Decommissioning is a central issue to the peace process

It's almost inconceivable, however, that either would not participate in the review as that could sound the death knell of the current peace process.

From a propaganda point of view such a move would be a disaster:

If the unionists were to boycott the Mitchell meetings, Sinn Fein would accuse them of doing so because they don't want to share power with Catholics; if Sinn Fein stayed away unionists would accuse them and the IRA of never being serious about peace and democracy.

Even assuming that all the political parties take part in the Mitchell review, there's no guarantee of a successful outcome.

The twin issues of decommissioning paramilitary weapons and the setting up of a power-sharing executive to run the province have dogged the peace process from the start.

Potential pitfall

Unionists insist on a handover of IRA weapons as a confidence building measure before sitting in government with Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein insist that only when a devolved executive that includes them is up and running will there be enough confidence in the republican community for the IRA to begin disarming.

Another potential pitfall for the talks comes later next week.

Chris Patten chairs the review of policing in Northern Ireland

Former Hong Kong governor, Chris Patten, is to publish his long-awaited report into the future of Northern Ireland's police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

It's expected to propose fundamental change to the force, with more than 200 recommendations.

Root and branch change to the RUC appears inevitable, but would outrage Protestants and unionists.

They believe the force has been the bulwark against terrorism for 30 years and should be left almost untouched.

Catholics and nationalists want to see the force transformed.

At the moment the RUC is 92% Protestant and Catholics are uneasy with the royal in the title and the oath of allegiance to the queen that new recruits must take.