By Brendan Anderson

THE most important outcome of the all-party talks in Scotland was that hardline Unionist leader Ian Paisley said yes, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has claimed.

Referring to the three days of discussions leading to the so-called St. Andrews Agreement earlier this month, Adams welcomed Paisley’s mainly positive attitude.

“Even if it was a qualified yes, and even if he has wobbled since then, the fact is that Ian Paisley’s conditional yes at St. Andrews is a positive shift for rejectionist Unionism. That is good for the rest of the people of this island,” Adams said.

“There have been many positive developments in recent years. I include the talks at St. Andrews, though there are elements of the British and Irish governments’ agreement which many Republicans and Nationalists would have difficulties with. The text needs to be scrutinized carefully and needs to be looked at in the context of the overall peace process.”

The Sinn Fein leader made the comments in Newry on Tuesday during his keynote speech on building an integrated future for the border region.

After a relatively successful outcome to the talks on the restoration of the North’s devolved government, Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) again stalled the political process by imposing difficult pre-conditions on Sinn Fein.

Adams said there were “justifiable concerns” that a committee set up to oversee the restoration of the Assembly and its institutions have not yet met as planned.

“Sinn Fein continues to be engaged with the two governments as we try to work through the current difficulties which are primarily between the DUP and the British government. Republicans have to be magnanimous, but we also have to be vigilant that the two governments do nothing that would undermine the Good Friday Agreement or its political institutions.

“The British government has to stop pandering to the unrealistic demands of the DUP and the Irish government needs to assert it’s role as co-equal partner with the British.

“A lot of the old certainties are gone. A lot of the old conservatism has been weakened. The peace process and the Celtic Tiger have brought about great changes.

“Our task is to make best use of the opportunity for progress that all of the hard work of recent years have created. Our task is to ensure that the people of Ireland, and in the context of the conference, the people of the border counties experience a new future, a new beginning, a change for the better in their daily lives,” Adams said.

Sinn Fein and the largest Unionist party, Paisley’s DUP, have launched internal discussions on the St. Andrews Agreement. The DUP Monday held its first meetings in a hotel on the outskirts of Belfast. Paisley, deputy leader Peter Robinson, DUP Assembly members and local councilors were joined by 300 grassroots party members for the discussion which lasted for longer than two hours.

The media and general public were barred from the meeting, although it is understood Paisley spoke for 30 minutes before taking questions from his audience.

In the event of a power-sharing government being installed, both Sinn Fein and the DUP expect the Irish and British governments to provide a peace fund package of several billion dollars.

The cash injection — Sinn Fein is seeking £10 billion (approximately $18.7 billion) over a 10-year period — will be used to upgrade the North’s infrastructure and finance cross-border bodies.

Northern Secretary Peter Hain warned again Monday that the “clock is ticking on a lasting deal” and the political parties should not let “a minor glitch” become a deal-breaker.

Hain was referring to the DUP’s insistence that Sinn Fein’s nominee for Executive Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, takes a pledge of support for policing and law and order. McGuinness has indicated he is willing to take the pledge, but cannot do so until his party completes its consultation and approves the move.

Hain has given the parties until November 1 to respond to the British and Irish government’s plan outlined in the St. Andrews document. The parties must also reach agreement on devolved government by November 24 or face the prospects of the Assembly being closed down permanently.

Another landmark was reached Monday when Adams and a Sinn Fein delegation met the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames at Stormont.

The men have met a number of times previously but the formal encounter, part of the political process choreography, was aimed at matching Ian Paisley’s recent ground-breaking meeting with Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady.

On Tuesday, Hain met with Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern in Dublin for a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, where the St. Andrew’s Agreement was discussed in detail.

“We’re determined to get the final settlement in place. Everything stands together or falls together,” Hain told the press after the meeting.

“We are awaiting the results of the parties’ consultations and we expect them to come back and say they support the St. Andrews Agreement by the 10 November. If the answer is yes, then we will prepare the necessary legislation for introduction to parliament in the week starting 20 November.

“If the answer is no, then the parties all know the consequences, which is that the assembly will be dissolved for who knows how many years to come.”