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(by Ed Maloney, Sunday Tribune)
The Unionist leader David Trimble has effectively killed off the notion of the Talks parties retreating to a secluded location to finalise a negotiated settlement out of sight of the media. "We're not going to (any) mountaintops", he declared in an interview with the Sunday Tribune.The suggestion that the final stages of the negotiations should take place at a secret venue has been circulating since last December when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British premier Tony Blair raised the possibility. It is also supported by Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam and SDLP leader John Hume who recently suggested the parties should disappear to "a mountain hideout".
The proposal is based on the view that the parties would find it easier to cut a deal if their manouevrings could be executed out of sight of the media.
Austria and Finland have been mentioned as possible hosts but more recently a castle in Wales has figured in the speculation. The North's Political Affairs minister Paul Murphy is a native of Wales. This suggestion has also been tailored to suit David Trimble on the grounds that he might accept the idea as long as he was close to Belfast.
However Mr Trimble has dismissed that idea as well.
Asked what his view was about the parties going to a mountain top to complete negotiations he replied: "Don't hold your breath. I'm not going to be put in a position where I'm out of contact with my folk. I'm not going to be in a position where things come down to the wire and difficult decisions have to be taken and I can't go back to my party executive and tell them what is going on".
Did this mean he might go to a mountain top as long as it was near home? "It means we're not going to mountaintops. My understanding is that people are talking about this for the purpose of putting us in a position where we're incommunicado and that's definitely not on".
He also specifically ruled out the suggestion of a Welsh venue: "I don't plan to visit Wales nor anywhere else. We have our rules. I'd dearly love to have a better physical environment in Belfast but I'm not changing. I see no reason to leave Belfast during these talks".
Mr Trimble's rejection of the idea reflects the enormous difficulties he is facing at the prospect of cutting a deal with Nationalists. Its clear that he envisages the need to secure party backing for any compromise he might make and will be in close consultation in particular with his party executive throughout the final stages of the Talks.
The Unionist leader would also find himself under bitter attack from Messrs Paisley and McCartney for agreeing to closet himself secretly with Sinn Fein, particularly since the party has been expelled because of IRA killings.
Antipathy towards secret deals done behind their backs is also an important part of the Unionist culture. In this case it would revive memories of the Sunningdale Agreement and a deal which the majority of Unionists eventually regarded as a sellout by the then Unionist leader Brian Faulkner.