A new impetus was injected into the Northern Ireland peace process on Tuesday.

Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy met the province's parties in Belfast on Tuesday following the announcement of a review of the Good Friday agreement.

He was expected to ask the groups, including the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein, to outline their positions that they will take over the coming months.

Downing Street on Monday confirmed that the review of the Good Friday Agreement will begin on February 3. Murphy later said he expected it to last around two or three months.

Currently the parties are deadlocked following the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2002 and elections in November last year which saw the DUP and Sinn Fein become Northern Ireland's two biggest parties.

The DUP wants to see a full renegotiation of the landmark Belfast agreement while republican Sinn Fein has refused to give any guarantees on behalf of the IRA that all terrorist weapons will be handed in before self-government is restored.

Murphy's fresh negotiations followed a meeting on Monday in Downing Street between Tony Blair and Irish premier Bertie Ahern to discuss how the two governments will try to break the deadlock.

The talks were followed by a meeting between British and Irish ministers, who will then discuss the developments at an inter-governmental conference in Dublin on Thursday.

In a further attempt to break the deadlock it was revealed by Belfast officials that the Democratic Unionist Party leaders will meet with Bertie Ahern "soon".

The meeting will be the first between an Irish leader and the DUP.

As part of the new momentum, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams flew to Washington to brief US officials on the latest developments.