Northern Secretary Paul Murphy has said that the PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde's opinion that the IRA was probably to blame for the £26m bank robbery in Belfast last month was well founded.
Mr Murphy told the House of Commons that the robbery at the Northern Bank headquarters had deeply damaged Northern Ireland's political process.
He said it was entirely reasonable for unionists to refuse to work with Sinn Féin while the Provisional IRA had not given up all forms of criminality in which it was implicated.
Mr Murphy added that he could not forecast with certainty when it would prove possible to re-establish an inclusive power-sharing executive.
The Northern Secretary said responses from Sinn Féin and the IRA were needed before political talks could be reinvigorated.
Further talks planned
The first political contacts of the new year between the British and Irish governments will come next week when the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, is due to meet Mr Murphy.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is likely to see Mr Blair after returning from China in a fortnight.
The PSNI is due to give an update on its investigation of the bank robbery by the middle of this week.
