'Fresh drive' for Ulster peace

Even though he failed to pull off the deal after republicans resisted Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley's demands for photographs of IRA disarmament, he still insisted a huge political prize was within reach of all sides.

He said: "I may be weary, but not downhearted. I think there is an inevitability to the process that is now locked in.

"I cannot see this process going backwards, but I do know it is going to require extra effort to finish the journey."

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who was with Mr Blair in Belfast to outline British and Irish proposals to get the power-sharing executive running again, said he believed an agreement was still possible before Christmas.

But with Mr Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Gerry Adams's Sinn Fein leadership angrily blaming each other for the breakdown, and in no mood to compromise, some officials in London and Dublin fear this might be the last chance of a deal before the General Election.

It was envisaged all IRA weapons would be destroyed within a fortnight in front of witnesses, and power-sharing would return to Stormont by March if everything was agreed.

The only outstanding issue, following months of tense and difficult negotiations in London, Dublin and Belfast, was the witnessing of the final acts of IRA disarmament in front of General John de Chastelain, head of the international decommissioning body.

Mr Adams last night claimed Sinn Fein had ruled out as far back as September any attempt to allow a photographer in to record the event in what could be a process of humiliation for republicans.

The British and Irish blueprint envisaged the IRA signing up to a photograph that would be published once power sharing was reactivated.

However, Mr Blair admitted that the IRA did not sign up to the use of photographs, and he went out of his way, at Belfast's Waterfront Hall, to reject any hint of bad faith on the part of republicans