Weapons on agenda intalks with Sinn Fein

process talks at ministerial level. They are expected to start next week

after a deal was put together by London and Dublin.

Mr Michael Ancram, the Northern Ireland Minister in charge of

negotiations, and Mr Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein negotiator, are to

meet soon. Mr Ancram and the Prime Minister have persuaded Sinn Fein to

end their attempt to link serious talks about handing over weapons with

''demilitarisation''.

Sinn Fein has been given the right to discuss the removal of the

British Army from Ulster as part of these talks. Both sides seemed

satisified last night that the log jam is over.

It marks the beginning of the end of the exclusion of Sinn Fein from

serious discussions about a political compromise. The deal was agreed

yesterday after the Irish Premier Mr John Bruton was heavily involved in

talks with Mr Major and Mr Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader.

Last night, Mr Bruton expressed his pleasure at the development: ''The

position now is that the requirements of the British Government and of

Sinn Fein in terms of issues to be discussed will both be met in an

early meeting at ministerial level.''

He said that a ''lot of effort by a lot of people'' had broken the

impasse. President Clinton is also said to have been involved in putting

pressure on Mr Adams following his feting by the American Government.

Mr Bruton said: ''The important point to make is that there were very

intensive and detailed discussions, almost on a daily basis, going on

with a view to breaking this impasse. A lot of issues were covered in

those exchanges that will now be much easier to deal with in the talks

themselves. So it was not lost time, just good preparation.''

Mr McGuinness said last night that Sinn Fein would be in contact with

the British Government immediately to arrange a meeting with Mr Ancram.

''I think everybody would like to see this expedited as it is essential

that we move on as quickly as possible towards all-party peace talks

which are the next stage of this process.''

He had been trying to force the British Government to approach these

talks linking ''demilitarisation'' to serious discussion about how the

IRA are going to start handing over their arsenal.

President Clinton and Mr Bruton have assisted in convincing Sinn Fein

that it is not possible to link illegal weapons and forces with the

legal deployment of the British Army in Ulster.

Mr Ancram said at Stormont last night that the Government had

emphasised to Sinn Fein that he would want to discuss ways that IRA arms

could be decommissioned and how this could be verified. He insists that

this is the first item on the agenda. However, Mr McGuinness can raise

any other issues -- demilitarisation included -- at a later stage.

Mr Ancram said: ''We have informed Sinn Fein that following our

communications we now believe there is a basis on which Ministers can

become involved in exploratory dialogue.''

The essential condition for this breakthrough he described as Sinn

Fein's being ''prepared to discuss everything constructively and

seriously, including the decommissioning of arms which we would discuss

separately and first''.

Democratic Unionist party leader Ian Paisley condemned the decision on

the grounds that the Government had stated it would not talk to Sinn

Fein until decommissioning had been resolved.