Mowlam: "Time to get peace process into gear"

Mowlam warns against political vacuum

Mowlam Renews Appeal for IRA Ceasefire

The signs are not good: on Sunday evening the security forces discovered several hundred pounds of explosives on the nationalist Creggan Estate in Londonderry.

The main July 12 Protestant marches were largely peaceful. There were some isolated outbreaks of violence afterwards. Firebombs were thrown at a Protestant Orange Order hall in County Down, and there were some clashes between police and nationalist demonstrators on the streets of Londonderry.

The Government is pinning its hopes on a new mood in Northern Ireland.

"What's important is that the peace process itself gets in gear and people see some momentum being reached by that," Ms Mowlam said on Sky television.

"Because if you can build trust and confidence between the different parties in the talks process, where they can say that they can trust each other and they can reach agreement, then that will play down to areas like the marches where it will filter through society," she said.

Ms Mowlam drew hope from the possibility of there being agreement on the issue of decommissioning terrorist weapons when the multi-party talks start again on Tuesday.

Hume: Praise for Loyalists

Hume calls for progress towards an "agreed society"

Northern Ireland's nationalists were also hopeful, praising Orange Order leaders for their efforts to avert violence during the parades.

Speaking on the BBC's Breakfast With Frost, the leader of the mainstream nationalist SDLP, John Hume, welcomed the decision to re-route some marches away from Catholic areas.

"It was a very praiseworthy decision and I think it enormously improved the atmosphere in the communities involved," he said. "I think that that atmosphere is something we should now build on."

Church leaders were also positive, speaking of a new mood of conciliation created by the Orange Order decision.

"During the previous year there had been a great deal of activity and discussions and dialogue and attempts to encourage dialogue between local communities," said the leader of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames.

"I believe this tremendous spirit of relief that we've had in the last 48 hours - it's bound to carry the process forward," he said.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady, said that what was needed now was a spirit of understanding.

"We have no control over ceasefires and we would like them to take place and appeal for them but there must be I think a process of mutual forgiveness because we know from other countries that no process of real peace can begin without this," he said.

Trimble: Pessimistic

Trimble accuses Hume of harbouring "illusions" about Sinn Fein

But the leader of the main unionist party in Northern Ireland, David Trimble of the Ulster Unionists, was dismissive of the prospects for peace, saying it was "wishful thinking" that there would be a new IRA ceasefire.

"The reality is that Sinn Fein isn't going to change," he said. "Anybody who knows anything about the situation realises that. We must have an end to both the wishful thinking and also the bad priorities, the bad policies that some people base on wishful thinking and we've got to leave them behind," said Mr Trimble.

The Sinn Fein MP Gerry Adams, president of the IRA's political wing, did nothing to alter this view when he spoke to reporters in Belfast.

"I think that up until we have credible negotiations on offer, and that is what people are applying themselves to trying to bring about, there is not even a possibility of addressing the conflict, the causes of the conflict, or the symptoms of the conflict," he said.

Celebrating July, 1690