Senator George Mitchell prepares for a new round of Ulster peace talks

Senator Calls For Real Progress in Ulster Talks

There must be "tangible progress" at the Northern Ireland multi-party talks when they resume this week to put the peace process back on track, US Senator George Mitchell has said.

As he prepares to chair a new round of talks with Ulster's constitutional parties, Senator Mitchell also said the marching season must pass without the violence of last year in order to advance the situation.

The talks begin again at Stormont in Belfast this week, the first time the parties have come to the table together since the general elections in Ireland and the UK.

"I think there has to be some tangible progress," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost programme.

"Most of the participants in the talks have come to the conclusion that there can't be another year like the past year, that there has to be some demonstrable activity moving forward into substantive discussions.

"I think it is possible. It is obviously very difficult, but I think it is still possible. Otherwise I would not be going back."

It emerged yesterday that Government officials recently offered Sinn Fein a seat at the talks, provided the IRA announced and held a ceasefire for six weeks.

But the deal was wrecked when IRA assassins killed two RUC officers in Lurgan three days later.

"These violent acts are reprehensible, morally wrong and counter-productive," Senator Mitchell said. "Whatever may have been the case in the past, there now exists a democratic alternative. That's where people should be concentrating."