Gerry Adams has issued a warning to the British government over the handling of the peace process.
The Sinn Féin President said today that Republicans would not allow the British Government to resolve the outstanding issues on its own or Unionist terms.
Mr Adams was addressing a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the hunger strikes in the H-blocks.
He said that he rejected the assertion by the Northern Secretary, John Reid, that a deal to resolve decommissioning, policing and demilitarisation was tantalisingly close.
Dr Reid said earlier that it would be deeply disappointing if the IRA walked away from its offer to the Decommissioning Body to put its arms beyond use.
The Northern Secretary was speaking after Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin suggested that the IRA initiative might have been jeopardised by the suspension of the power-sharing institutions.
Dr Reid restored the Stormont institutions at the stroke of midnight following the 24-hour suspension.
He argued that the technical device, which allows the parties to carry on talking for another six weeks, had been necessary to buy time to save the peace process.
The move infuriated Nationalists and Republicans, however, who accused the British government of bowing to a Unionist veto forced by the resignation of David Trimble as First Minister.
Mr McGuinness said: "I think that it may have jeopardised the very important development of earlier this week.
"The people who rejected the determination of the general was the Ulster Unionist Party and, effectively in rejecting the authority of General de Chastelain and the international commission, they have thrown us all into a very grave crisis."
Meanwhile, Brian Cowen said today that it was a moral obligation and a political necessity for the IRA to put its arms beyond use.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs added, however, that people should be generous in acknowledging the progress that had already been made on that issue.
