IAIS: UUP REFUSE SINN FEIN QUESTIONS Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: "J. Dana" UUP REFUSE SINN FEIN QUESTIONS 10/15/97 13:19 EST At yesterday's talks on the future of Northern Ireland, all the talks delegations, including the Ulster Unionist Party(UUP) and Sinn Fein, engaged in yesterday's negotiations. The parties presented formal positions on the type of agreement they would favour, and afterwards there was an exchange of views among the different sides. However, the UUP, whose position was put by the deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, said members refused to answer questions from Sinn Fein because the UUP still did not view Sinn Fein as a "constitutional party". Ms Bairbre de Brun, a Sinn Fein ardchomhairle member, said unionists had "engaged" in the negotiations, although Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the UUP MP for Lagan Valley, insisted the only exchange was their declared refusal through the chairman, US senator George Mitchell, to answer Sinn Fein questions. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, nonetheless described the meeting as a "very valuable start to Strand Two". She added: "For the first time I felt there was really an engagement among all the parties. We grappled with the complexities of allegiance. "It was a very considered and powerful exchange between many of the participants, including the unionist delegation. For the first time I felt we were getting down to the nuts and bolts of the things that divide us, and the things that might possibly unite us." The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said the talks had been "given momentum, and it was a good day's work". __________________________________________________________ The Irish American Information Service is a non-profit orginization provding up-to-the-minute objective coverage of news as it happens in Ireland and the North. Please visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.iais.org ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-10.16.97-02:33:15-25100