British Official to Meet Today With Catholics on Ulster Issue

Britain’s secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Tom King, is scheduled to meet today with moderate Roman Catholic political leaders in the troubled province as part of a move to revive a political dialogue there.

King will meet with a delegation led by John Hume, head of the Social Democratic Labor Party, the largest Catholic-supported party in the province. They are expected to explore areas of possible cooperation between Northern Ireland’s Protestant and Catholic political leaders.

King and Hume have met previously but have not formally discussed areas where political power might be invested in local politicians. The province, also known as Ulster, currently is administered directly from London.

“Everything is on the table for this one,” said Dan Kenne, a spokesman for the Social Democratic Labor Party.

On Monday, Hume met with leaders of the outlawed Irish Republican Army’s legal political wing, Sinn Fein, apparently in an effort to negotiate a cease-fire in the terrorist campaign that has plagued Northern Ireland for nearly a generation. Sources familiar with the problem said there appears to be little hope of immediate progress, however.

While Hume has pressed for talks involving representatives of all segments of Ulster’s deeply divided population, Protestant leaders have refused to take part in such a dialogue.

In addition, there are no formal contacts between the British government and the Sinn Fein.

Any substantive cooperation between Protestants and Catholics is considered remote, but a series of recent incidents, including a Protestant attack on an IRA funeral and the IRA execution of two British soldiers, shocked even the violence-hardened residents of Northern Ireland and led to new efforts for a political initiative.

More than 2,600 people have died in two decades of sectarian fighting, mainly between the IRA, which advocates a united Ireland, and Protestant guerrilla groups in Northern Ireland that resist any links with the Irish Republic.

Efforts to revive a dialogue come amid indications that moderate Catholics are losing confidence in the agreement signed by Britain and the Irish Republic 2 1/2 years ago aimed at improving conditions for minority Catholics.