Mowlam: considering early release?

Mowlam Hints at Early Release for Republican Prisoners

But Ken Maginnis, Ulster Unionist security spokesman, said it was "ham-fisted to talk the IRA's language when she has yet to decide that the ceasefire is genuine".

Maginnis: opposed to early release

He went on: "It is a strange thing for the Government's front line negotiator, the No 1 in the negotiating team, to play her cards face up." Mr Maginnis accused Ms Mowlam of "surrendering to IRA blackmail to give her the six weeks she needs to get them into the negotiations". And he said that he doubted their long-term commitment to the ceeasefire.

The Northern Ireland Secretary also came under attack from the Democratic Unionists. Their deputy leader Peter Robinson said she had bought an IRA ceasefire and would constantly have to pay the price in concessions to keep it going. "The IRA have declared a ceasefire which by its very nature is temporary -- they are going to review it in four months to see what they are getting out of it," he said.

"The Secretary of State has put herself in a position where she will constantly be pressured by the IRA to pay for peace," he added.

In her interview with the Sunday Telegraph, she said that she was not yet ready to discuss demands for prisoners to be released, but added: "As the ceasefire holds, other options become possible."

Ms Mowlam will not decide on the credibility of the ceasefire until the end of the month. If she decides it is genuine, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams will be invited to join the multi-party talks on the future of Northern Ireland on September 15.

Sinn Fein is demanding the immediate return to Ireland of 20 prisoners held in jails in England and then the release of them and others.

Unionists say they have no objection to transfers to jails in Ulster and the Irish Republic, but oppose any suggestion of going outside the judicial system when dealing with releases.

Early releases were made after the last ceasefire by reintroducing 50 percent remission which had been abandoned some years before. That level of remission remains.