Mitchell Optimistic on Irish Peace Talks

The Northern Ireland peace process is on track to be a success by its May deadline, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell said, despite three days of talks that ended without progress. “These are difficult issues. But it isn’t a function of time to resolve them, it’s a function of will--and increasingly, the will is there,” said Mitchell, chairman of the talks. Negotiators from seven parties--from the major pro-British Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, to the IRA-allied Sinn Fein--will resume the search for compromise Monday in Belfast, the provincial capital. “I wouldn’t put odds on it, but I really do think a settlement is going to happen,” Mitchell said. But he added, “I’m so devoted and committed to it that maybe I’m not being objective.”