The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, has said he would respond positively to a decisive move on decommissioning and the end of paramilitarism by the IRA.
With the Irish and British governments emphasising that the Northern parties must be in a position to restore the power-sharing executive after any Assembly election, Mr Trimble said the full functioning of the Belfast Agreement was not a problem for him.
With efforts intensifying to lay the groundwork for an election before Christmas, Mr Trimble was speaking in Dublin after a meeting at Government Buildings with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. Encouraged by the strength of Mr Trimble's most recent victory over the anti-agreement faction in his party, Mr Ahern said definite progress was required before the end of the month.
The meeting yesterday evening took place ahead of meetings in Dublin today between the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the SDLP and Alliance party. As part of these efforts to co-ordinate movement before calling an election date, Mr Cowen plans to meet on Thursday with the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, at a session of the British-Irish inter-governmental body.
With the election campaign to continue for up to six weeks, Mr Ahern said the poll would be held at the end of October if there was agreement on a way forward now. "We're not in that position today," he said. "Everything after today is pushing us into November, that's the reality of it. We are going to try and do as much as we can in the next two weeks." Mr Ahern said a huge amount of effort would be required in about the next fortnight for all parties to move to a position that would see the election called this autumn.
He said: "We are jointly now determined to use the next short period ahead, a matter of weeks, to work towards an election situation moving on, but more importantly that we can succeed in getting to a working executive on the other side of those elections."
There were two outstanding issues: "We want clarity that we move to the end of paramilitarism and all that's around that . . . And equally so, if we get to that situation, that we've certainty that we have a working executive with all that was in the agreement."
The Ulster Unionist leader responded by saying that he would not have worked for five years to secure the Belfast Agreement if he did not want it implemented in full.
He said: "We do see this agreement as providing the best opportunity for all of the people of Northern Ireland in terms of the future. And that agreement will not be fully implemented until we see the ending of paramilitarism. Of course you will see then the full functioning of all of the aspects of the agreement. That's not a problem."
Mr Trimble said he was pushing to see the executive and Assembly re-formed after an election.
Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor, writes:
The Northern Secretary has stated that he wants to hold autumn elections but that such a poll must lead to the creation of a new Northern executive. Mr Murphy hoped that the proposed International Monitoring Commission (IMC), which will be debated and voted upon in the House of Commons tomorrow, would help towards creating a climate of political confidence.
Mr Murphy said it would serve to check on paramilitary activity and that the two British members of the four-member body would also test whether politicians were meeting their requirements under the Belfast Agreement.
