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Gerry's tease

• Mark Devenport
• 17 Apr 07, 05:47 PM

Interesting in which he sketches in some of the background to his historic meeting with Ian Paisley on March 26th. He talks about rejecting Peter Hain's attempts to broker an extended Easter holiday for the new Executive to facilitate the DUP's doubters.

The Sinn Fein president also teases his readers on the topic of what kind of contacts with the DUP preceded the meeting in the Stormont members' dining room. During the weekend prior to the meeting, when we have reported proxy talks took place inside Stormont Castle, Gerry Adams writes "it's too close to the events to detail this part of the negotiations at this time. Suffice to say, good work was done. Particularly by Martin McGuinness". Elsewhere he again draws a veil over the proceedings, noting "the process of peacemaking is just like that. An injudicious revelation here or there can cause more trouble than its worth."

So were the last minute contacts really "proxy" talks? And whose blushes is Gerry sparing? There were, of course, stories of contacts between the two sides going back as far as the Leeds castle talks of 2004, but these rumours were never substantiated. What will the history books record?