THE Northern Secretary has welcomed weekend comments by Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein about the need for an IRA ceasefire if there are to be meaningful negotiations.
Sir Patrick Mayhew, in an apparent attempt to answer Sinn Fein demands that the talks be inclusive, also stated that the agenda for all party negotiations on June 10th would be open, with nothing ruled in or out.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, welcomed Sir Patrick's comments although the party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, said there was "little basis" for the speculation that an IRA ceasefire was imminent "at this time". Mr Adams claimed the speculation was being fuelled mainly by British government sources.
Mr Adams said the speculation was "most unhelpful". Sinn Fein, he added, was working daily to restore the peace process but the British government also had a crucial role to play. A talks process was meaningless unless it was inclusive.
"A real negotiations process requires a full, focused and committed engagement by Mr Major.
"Whatever the IRA does, Sinn Fein has a right to be at the talks table. We have an electoral mandate. We are fighting the election to renew that mandate and it is up to the two governments to acknowledge and recognise the rights of all sections of the electorate", Mr Adams said.
Sir Patrick, speaking in west Belfast yesterday morning, welcomed Mr McGuinness's weekend remarks that he "passionately" believed that talks must take place in a peaceful environment.
"I thought it was a welcome recognition that there can be no place in a democracy for people who use violence for political ends," Sir Patrick said. Everybody wanted to see Sinn Fein represented at the talks but that could not happen until there was an IRA ceasefire.
Asked was he hopeful of a new ceasefire, he added: "I think there is a momentum building up which I believe basically most people can observe a recognition that both governments meant what they have said all along, that they want to see everybody there with a democratic mandate."
In an apparent response to Mr McGuinness's demand that talks be meaningful and inclusive, the Northern Secretary said there would be an open agenda for the negotiations.
Citing the Anglo Irish communique, he referred to the need for an "open agenda with nothing pre ordained, nothing ruled out, nothing ruled in ... It's just as important that that should be made clear as it is important that the issue of decommissioning has got to be addressed at the table".
Sir Patrick would not be drawn on what "addressing" decommissioning specifically meant. Asked did it mean the physical handing over of weapons, he replied: "So, we'll get on with that and we'll see how that develops."
Mr McLaughlin said Sir Patrick's comments were an interesting contribution to the peace process which Sinn Fein was "obliged to study very carefully". They marked a change in British "rhetoric". He repeated, however, that a clear and unambiguous commitment to inclusive talks was required from Mr Major.
The comments by the Northern Secretary nonetheless "do open up the possibility of a meaningful discussion on constitutional and political change". If these comments were a "change in tack", they would "be a meaningful and very significant contribution" to the peace process, said Mr McLaughlin.
He hoped Sir Patrick was paving the way for a more significant statement from Mr Major.
He was concerned, however, that Mr Major had so far not responded to a recent speech by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, when he said talks must be real and meaningful.
Sinn Fein was trying hard to restore the "peace process", Mr McLaughlin told BBC Radio Ulster. "We will make our contribution and we will take our full load of responsibility for creating those conditions that will take all political violence out of the equation.
"That is the position that we have been offering to the peace process and have been doing for the past number of years. We have never deviated from that. We have met every single commitment and promise that we gave," Mr McLaughlin added.
The Catholic Primate, Cardinal Cahal Daly, meanwhile, has called on the IRA to restore its ceasefire so that all party talks can be fully inclusive.
Cardinal Daly, speaking in Armagh on Sunday, said he "fervently" hoped and prayed that the IRA would reinstate its ceasefire, and that the loyalist paramilitaries would maintain their ceasefires. This would lead to "talks in which everyone can sit down".
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said should the IRA call a ceasefire it would only be for tactical reasons. It would be no "more meaningful" than the last ceasefire. The IRA had made it abundantly clear it was not prepared to decommission even one bullet, he added.
The chairman of the Alliance Party, Mr Steve McBride, said it was make your mind up time" for Sinn Fein and the IRA.
