The US President's special envoy to Northern Ireland remains upbeat that the peace process will succeed and says that after the assembly elections all concerned "will once again put shoulders to the wheel".
Political Correspondent William Graham interviewed Ambassador Richard Haass in his New York office.
The combination of what has been accomplished so far and the nature of any remaining differences leads US Ambassador Richard Haass to believe that "ultimately" the Northern Ireland peace process will work out.
US President George W Bush's special adviser Dr Haass said he could not give a calendar or precise time schedule but he remained fundamentally upbeat about the north's prospects.
He predicted that the day would come when Northern Ireland could even become a "model" for conflict resolution in other parts of the world such as the Middle East and Kashmir.
Dr Haass, who is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that at this stage diplomacy would essentially have to await the result of the assembly election.
He said he hoped that after the November 26 poll diplomacy or negotiations could start up and then it would be a case of all shoulders to the wheel.
On the question of acts of decommissioning so far, Dr Haass said that of course these were inherently positive.
Regarding the most recent development, he said this was the third act of decommissioning we had seen from the IRA and this was welcome.
Asked whether the big political project was closer to completion, he said the process required continued effort.
"Diplomacy is almost better understood as a verb rather than a noun. You are always working it," he said.
"You are working it at multiple levels. You are working it at not only diplomatic level but also at the ground level.
"There was progress, in a sense, this summer when you had so little violence. It was a really good summer.
"I personally am committed to working at it at a social level... and by that I mean by trying to promote integrated education. I think that is one key to the future.
"And obviously we have got to try to work it out at community level. To make sure there is no prejudice, no discrimination in hiring or housing, to make sure that policing works – that sort of thing."
Dr Haass stressed that on a political and diplomatic level work must be done to have the parties put together a basis by which the devolved institutions could be restored.
"We we want to bring about the full normalisation of political life in Northern Ireland and to end paramilitary activity," he said.
"So you have to work at all of this at lots of levels. It is obviously going to take time. You can't expect these things to be solved in an afternoon. Once the elections are behind us we will once again put shoulders to the wheel at all these different levels."
In relation to when a review process would start and what it would entail, Dr Haass said that had yet to be worked out.
Asked whether he believed all the pieces in the political process were still there to be worked at, he replied: "Well, for sure. I am an optimist, not just bec-ause I am an American. I think Amer-icans are optimistic by temperament.
"I have made more than a dozen trips to Northern Ireland in the last nearly three years and have had more meetings and phone conversations that I can count.
"I have yet to come across any difference or problem that I would describe as intractable or insurmountable.
"I have not encountered anything that leads me to pessimism, much less despair.
"To the contrary what makes this at times so frustrating is that the problems are of a sort and of a scale that they ought to be solvable. My own view is that there are solutions out there that would leave everybody better off.
"The other reason that I am optimistic is that I think things are arguably better today than they were 10 years ago. I am not sitting here saying everything is perfect – they are obviously not – but are people better off than they were five or 10 years ago? Of course. Economically they are better off. In terms of the normalcy of life they are better off.
"I am not saying things can't get better. Of course they should and of course they need to. But it shows to me that the evidence of the last decade is that diplomacy can pay. It can make the situation better.
"The combination of what we have accomplished so far as well as the nature of the differences leads me to believe that ultimately this will work out. I can't give you a calendar or a precise time schedule but I remain fundamentally upbeat about Northern Ireland's prospects."
Asked about Northern Ireland's place in the world in terms of conflict resolution, Dr Haass said: "Northern Ireland is far ahead of the Middle East or some other conflicts like, say, between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
"You have got the foundation of the Good Friday Agreement. On top of that you have the joint declaration. On top of that you have the reality of a fun-damental reduction in violence in Northern Ireland.
"The remaining issues are very well articulated and the nature of the poten-tial compromises, I think, is understood.
"All of this makes Northern Ireland, thankfully, mercifully, a far cry from the Middle East or Kashmir or any of these other areas.
"One of the many reasons that I would like to see the Northern Ireland process move ahead is to show that it is possible.
"It would be nice to be able to have conferences and meetings on lessons learned and how they might apply usefully to the Middle East or Kashmir or any number of other places. That would be a real contribution.
"I think we will get to that day where Northern Ireland becomes something of a model."
Asked why people would not now make the remaining moves necessary to cement the process, Dr Haass admitted that there were any number of reasons and there were still differences.
"Also this is about politics. In order to do and say certain things people have to persuade their constituencies, their core constituencies and their supporters that on balance they are better off," he said.
"This often requires psychological change, political change, sometimes economic change so, I don't underestimate the difficulties. We are asking people, in some cases, to alter their behaviour significantly and I don't underestimate the difficulty of that for a second. That is why things have not moved further or faster than they have.
"There again, I come back to what I have said. I don't think there is anything on the table that is by its nature unrealistic or impossible to require of any of the parties.
"Therefore some diplomatic work and leadership is still needed in Northern Ireland. It is a real challenge to the political leadership – including in that all the leaders of all the parties, large and small, as well as civic and business leaders.
"I think that it is a challenge to all of them to make this work. The good news is that the vast majority of the people, regardless of political orientation or religion or whatever, would be better off.
"There again I think we will get there. Even though I am an optimist I don't want to dismiss or discount the significance of the work that needs to be done and the remaining difficulties.
"If it had been easy it would have been done."
On his new job as president of the influential Council on Foreign Relations Dr Haass said it was an independent, non-partisan, membership organisation of Americans interested in foreign policy and their country's role in the world.
"I have inherited an organisation in very good shape. I have inherited at a time where there is an interest in foreign policy much greater than in recent years," he said.
"I think that what 9/11 and Iraq did was to bring home to many Americans that foreign policy truly matters.
"We are in the early stages of a very big debate on American foreign policy. After the end of the Cold War foreign policy was not debated much at all and after 9/11 there was a consensus about going after the Taliban, about dealing with terrorism."
But on Iraq that consensus has come apart and there is now an interesting and significant debate in America about how ambitious the United States should be in the world, how much it should act alone, as opposed to with others, and the role of military force.
Dr Haass said that for institutions such as the Council on Foreign Relat-ions there was a real opportunity, even a responsibility, to help think through these questions.
"We don't take institutional positions. If we can perform a service to our members and to the public through our website, through our publications, through our magazine Foreign Affairs, we could help them think through the issues, think through the choices.
"We are going to focus a lot of our energies on these big questions of American foreign policy. We will also focus on how to organise the world to deal with the issue of global questions and focus on the question that the US President spoke about, about promoting reform in the Arab and Islamic world – what can be done to see these become more open societies, more open economies, more open political systems. We will look at this as well.
"I think that is one of the big foreign policy challenges facing the United States and the world over the next decade... how to ensure the Arab and Islamic world succeed, how they open and modernise."
On the difficult relations between the US and some EU countries such as Germany and France in relation to Iraq, Dr Haass said his organisation was looking at this closely and a major study was under way to look at the whole question of US/European relations and to try to suggest ways in which rifts could be bridged.
"We need US/European cooperation and partnership if we are going to deal with some of these big global issues," he said.
