Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Secretary of State was confirming, as has been the case in successive US Administrations, the support of the Administration for a successful outcome that would ensure the institutions are sustained and operated as envisaged under the agreements that have been reached between the Governments and the parties.

Prime Minister Brown and I were seeking to bring sides together to indicate ways forward that would be helpful to the process. We are talking about devolving powers to the Assembly and that requires decisions by the parties themselves. A cross-community vote would be required in the Assembly to trigger the devolution process. In terms of subsequent issues that must be undertaken, the agreement of parties is necessary.

In the past there have been negotiations where the Governments have sought to put forward, like we did at St. Andrews, a set of arrangements we believe are the best means of ensuring the re-establishment of the institutions with full participation in the Executive by qualified parties. On this occasion we are also looking at the need for active support from the parties themselves based on direct talks taking place between them, in addition to the facilitation of talks with the Governments. The preferred choice of the Governments is to see arrangements agreed by the parties themselves. We made the point that if there was no prospect of that happening, we indicated a timeframe for the publication of some of our proposals based on what we believed would be a fair outcome to the discussions.

On the basis that there has been a serious engagement ongoing since, the Governments have decided to allow that process to continue as long as there is political goodwill and preparedness on all sides to continue with the talks. Obviously they are taking longer than may have been anticipated but they are ongoing and seek to narrow their differences. I hope these matters can be brought to a successful conclusion sooner rather than later.

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