I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 17, inclusive, together.
Many of the issues raised by Deputies in these questions were covered in considerable detail in my Statement to this House on Thursday last. It would not be the most beneficial use of Question Time to repeat here all the points that I made. However, it may be useful to make the following points.
The agreement reached in Belfast early yesterday morning is very much a step in the right direction in advancing the talks process. It represents the correct response from democratic politicians to those who attempt to mix violence, as in Lisburn last week, with politics. It may offer — and I emphasise "may"— hopeful signs of progress in the remainder of the opening plenary, leading to negotiations in the three strands. However, the decommissioning issue, which has now been reached on the agenda for that Plenary, remains to be resolved.
Any eventual agreement will have greater prospects of securing the necessary allegiance and support if all shades of political opinion in Northern Ireland contributed to it in a climate of peace. The democratic consensus, which exists North and South on non-violence, is an open one; anyone can join and it is our earnest wish that everybody will join, on the basis of an unqualified commitment to democratic politics and the credible abandonment of violence for political ends. However, as I stated last Thursday last, no one, armed or unarmed, has a veto. We will carry forward the democratic political process, including addressing all of the issues of concern to Nationalists and Unionists, with or without Sinn Féin.
At the root of the democratic consensus, largely embodied by the multi-party talks, is an agreement that the means for handling, managing and attempting to accommodate difference is the political process only, without any fallback positions to violence or force. The parties at the talks, many with diametrically opposed constitutional and political aims, share that consensus. Therefore, the Government will continue to do everything possible in the talks to secure an agreed outcome, irrespective of whether Sinn Féin joins the process or not.
The Government will continue to work for the maximum level of consensus in the talks where the contribution of each and every party, irrespective of size, will be seen to matter. Accordingly, the Government have, in the talks and otherwise as appropriate, maintained contact with all the delegations there. Nevertheless, agreement between the SDLP and the UUP is vital to reaching the sufficient consensus threshold. For that reason, the Government, in the multi-party talks, has had an intensive round of bilateral and trilateral consultations with, in particular, the British Government, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP.
I assure the House that the Government will explore every possible avenue with a view to securing the necessary progress in the talks. The British Prime Minister and I reviewed the position at a meeting on 5 October. Since then, there has been intensive contact between officials in my Department and No. 10 Downing Street. For obvious reasons, I cannot give details of all such contacts, which are at an unprecedented level of frequency. However, I assure the House that an Anglo-Irish Summit will take place whenever such a move, in the judgement of the British Prime Minister and myself, would be of most benefit.
The Government will continue to work closely with the British Government, the Northern Ireland political parties and church leaders as well as others to bring about reconciliation and agreement in an environment of peace. That requires compromise on all sides. Restoration of the IRA ceasefire and the maintenance by the loyalists of their ceasefire would help enormously to widen the space for that to happen. I hope that the IRA will heed the calls of many people, such as Bruce Morrison, who placed special emphasis on a restoration of the IRA ceasefire at our recent meeting. An IRA ceasefire is long overdue and it is time the outmoded and counterproductive use of violence was abandoned for good. If Republicans are committed to peace, as they say they are, let them call a ceasefire now and make it a credible one.
The Government was concerned at the withdrawal by the UDA prisoners of support for the peace process, especially since they played such an important role in bringing about the loyalist ceasefire of October 1994. At the same time, the Government welcomes the fact that the prisoners have indicated they have not withdrawn their support for the ceasefire itself and that the UDP leadership, as well as the PUP, continue to urge restraint. In that regard, I again support the calls of many people that the loyalist paramilitaries should not respond violently to the deliberate provocation of the IRA bomb attacks in Lisburn. We welcome the indications that these calls are being heeded.
The loyalist ceasefire has made an enormous contribution to peace and stability in Northern Ireland. The decision on a ceasefire was right. Violence only brings loss.
The UDA prisoners' unease points up the need for the credible restoration of the IRA ceasefire on the basis that it will hold in all circumstances, a speedy movement into substantive and meaningful negotiations, and further confidence building measures, including measures affecting prisoners, so that everyone can see that peace confers real benefits on all. What we need and what the Government is working intensively to bring about, is a balanced approach to enable these requirements to be met.