Paul Murphy has offered an upbeat assessment of the prospects for restoring devolution to Northern Ireland.

Speaking ahead of key talks at Stormont on Wednesday, the Ulster secretary said all the parties were keen to see the power-sharing executive restored.

"There is no question in my mind that all political parties in Northern Ireland really do want devolution back and the ability to run their own affairs," he said.

But there were indications of the tough negotiations ahead when DUP leader Ian Paisley ruled out face to face talks with Sinn Fein until the IRA disarms.

"There will be no talks until the IRA has disbanded and Sinn Fein ceases to carry on its alignment with the IRA," he said.

For the republicans, Gerry Adams said his party had a "right to equality".

"The big challenge for the DUP would be to start to talk to Sinn Fein and then we can start taking these matters seriously," he added.

Murphy, along with Irish foreign minister Brian Cowan, was meeting with representatives from each of the main parties in a bid to draw up a clear framework for a full multilateral meeting due to take place at Leeds Castle later this month.

He added that even with the previously anti-Good Friday agreement DUP now playing a key role in the talks "there are issues which are commonly held by all the parties -  for example, the principle of consent is now common to everybody".

With the Kent summit, which Tony Blair and taoiseach Bertie Ahern are set to chair, just two weeks away, London and Dublin want the groundwork for a deal on restoring devolution to be laid in as much detail as possible.

The Belfast assembly set up under the 1998 Good Friday agreement has been suspended for nearly two years and both governments fear momentum will be lost if the peace process is not back up and running soon.

Unionist politicians have refused to share power with Sinn Fein while the IRA remains in possession of terrorist weapons and the decommissioning of guns remains a major sticking point.

However nationalists and republicans are also pushing for the full implementation of the Good Friday deal, including clauses such as the devolution of control over the new Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The picture was complicated by assembly elections at the end of last year which strengthened the hand of hardliners including Sinn Fein and the anti-agreement Democratic Unionist Party at the expense of the more moderate SDLP and Ulster Unionists.