BELFAST -- Positive signals emerged from peace talks in Northern Ireland Tuesday as an official in the province's government said hopes were growing of a successful outcome, but there was no immediate sign of a breakthrough.

"There are glimmers of hope but equally there is a lot of hard work to do," the official said after British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ireland's Bertie Ahern met politicians and other representatives including the head of a disarmament commission.There was no sign of exactly what, if any, breakthrough had been made. A spokesman for First Minister David Trimble strenuously denied reports that the Protestant leader's Ulster Unionist Party had softened its stance on the pace of disarming Irish Republican Army guerrillas.

The government official made clear some progress was being made as Blair and Ahern flew to the next round of talks at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast to push forward the implementation of the Good Friday peace deal signed last April.

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