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Loyalist killings overshadow Anglo-Irish talks. Political Staff

The shadow of loyalist paramilitary killings today hung over the latest Anglo-Irish talks in London as Ministers struggled to chart a fresh path to political talks.

Security was top of the agenda for the meeting, with the Irish Government demanding further information on the threat of loyalist bomb-attacks in the Republic.

Both Governments regard the current upsurge in loyalist murders as an urgent incentive to get the political parties back around the negotiating table.

The urgency of the issue was marked by the presence of Stormont Security Minister Sir John Wheeler, who broke off his holiday to join his Dublin counterpart, Justice Minister Maire Geoghagan-Quinn, for the talks.

RUC Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley, whose warning of the threat of loyalist bomb-attacks in the Republic has alarmed Dublin, and Garda Commissioner Patrick Culligan were also present.

Speaking before the meeting - which began almost an hour late after the Irish party's flight from Dublin was delayed - Secretary of State Sir Patrick Mayhew spoke of the concern, felt in both London and Dublin, about the upsurge in violence.

Sir Patrick, welcoming Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, rejected suggestions that relations between both Governments had been at a low ebb after their last talks in July and stressed that both were treating the worsening security situation "very seriously".

Speaking before the meeting, he also made clear that, despite a negative public stance by some parties, there were still good grounds for a resumption of the dialogue.

However, the official message belied private concern that the prospects for fresh talks have worsened since the last Anglo-Irish meeting in July.

Sources predicted that there would be no sign of the frostiness which greeted Mr Spring's suggestion, in a Guardian interview in July, that both Governments might have to bypass the parties and aim for joint rule.

However, there was expected to be friction between Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Sir Hugh Annesley about the warning of loyalist attacks in the Republic.

Mr Reynolds said he was "disturbed" by the content of what Sir Hugh said on Wednesday and rebuked him for "going public".
