JUST six weeks into the IRA ceasefire, Sinn Fein, it is said, are to be formally invited into the Northern Ireland peace negotiations.

If that happens, it will be a historic departure - in that it will be the first time for more than 70 years that the government has engaged in substantial talks with republicans.

But do the republicans deserve it?

Certainly, there is plenty of scope for loyalist fears and mistrust, just as there will be repugnance at the notion of the government sitting down to talk with the mouthpieces of murderers.

Yet, ultimately, what other way forward is there than negotiation?

The pressure now falls on loyalist leaders to participate in the talks to make them and the peace process credible.

But the IRA - and the loyalist paramilitaries - could bring peace a step closer if they agreed to give up some of their weapons as the talks commence and to surrender more as they progress, if it is progress that they genuinely desire.

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