In Northern Ireland it was a good election for Sinn Fein, polling 16.1% of the vote and winning two seats, and also for the UUP, winning a tenth seat and 32.7% of the vote.

The tone for the administration was set by Tony Blair at Balmoral Show on May 16 when he said his objective was not a united Ireland but acceptance of the principle of consent.

The election in the Republic of a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat coalition led by Bertie Ahern on June 6 brought another set of new faces to the talks.

Timetable for talks

The British and Irish governments made progress on decommissioning on June 24. The next day Tony Blair set out his timetable for talks, which would begin on September 15 and end in May 1998.

Unionists were critical that the previous requirement of actual decommissioning had been diluted to 'due progress'.

However, this was enough for a Hume/Adams statement of July 17 to describe it as 'considerable progress' and two days later the IRA announced 'a complete cessation of military operations from noon on July 20 1997'.

Since a restoration of the 1994 ceasefire was the sole criteria for Sinn Fein entry into talks, the party took up its office accommodation in the talks complex at Castle Buildings the next day.

Unionist doubts

The unionist parties were not happy with the turn of events. The UK UP and the DUP both withdrew from the talks immediately.

The UUP remained until talks adjourned for the summer but would not make promises for the future. David Trimble said he would consult the community widely before deciding whether to return to talks resuming on 9 September.

Despite apeals from the DUP and UK UP to withdraw from talks, Mr Trimble postponed a decision until he completed a community consultation, including a meeting with Catholic Primate Sean Brady on September 1.

The talks resumed on September 9 with Sinn Fein signing the Mitchell principles but the UUP did not attend.

Unionists return to the table

A joint Blair/Ahern statement on consent and decommissioning, issued on September 13, was interpreted as an inducement and UUP delegates rejoined the talks in a mass entry with the PUP and UDP on September 17.

Within a week they were in the same room as Sinn Fein, had agreed a chairman and two sub committees to handle decommissioning, and substantive talks began on October 7.

On October 13 Prime Minister Tony Blair had the first meeting with republican leaders for 76 years. By the end of October the parties had presented their papers on strands one and two.

Difficulties with the process

There were problems, sometimes public, such as when David Andrews, the Irish Foreign Minister, told Radio Ulster that north-south bodies would have 'strong executive functions not unlike a government' only to be overruled by his party leader.

The talks chairman, George Mitchell, tried to get agreement on a list of topics for discussion by December 15 and a format to decide differences, but Sinn Fein refused to agree and the talks rose for Christmas.

As in the summer there were wnionist concerns that concessions on security, policing and prisoners were being made outside the talks process to Sinn Fein.

Further, the IRA's split at the beginning of November, after a meeting in Dundalk, made peace less likely in the context of renewed killings by the LVF.

The INLA killing of Billy Wright, leader of the LVF, in the Maze prison on December 27, and other deaths cast doubt on the 'peace process'.

The British and Irish governments presented their agenda for agreement on January 13 1998 but it was rejected four days later by Sinn Fein.

A meeting between Gerry Adams and Tony Blair the next day did not resolve matters. When the UDP was removed from the talks on January 26 and Sinn Fein on February 20 for links with violence, the talks seemed threatened.

However, each was obliged to serve a two week sentence before returning to the table.

The Good Friday agreement

On March 26 the talks chairman set a 15 day deadline for agreement and the parties responded.

The final stage began with the presentation late on Monday, April 6 of the chairman's paper on where agreement lay.

The unionist reaction to it was sharp but the result was a determined effort to bring it into the 'real world'. The contentious north-south element was agreed on Thursday, April 9 and the next day there were changes with regard to prisoners, decommissioning and reform of the RUC.