An SDLP delegation had hour-long talks with the Northern Secretary this evening. Dr Reid also held talks with Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists. Leaving Hillsborough the SDLP delegation did not comment on speculation that the devolved institutions may soon be suspended.
Party leader John Hume said: "We have suggested to them that the best way forward given the current situation is for both governments to work with all parties in working to fully implement the package that they have set out".
Earlier, Gerry Adams said that David Trimble is threatening to pull his ministers out of government if the Northern Secretary does not suspend the Good Friday institutions. The Sinn Féin president was speaking after talks with Dr John Reid this afternoon. Acting First Minister Sir Reg Empey denied the claim.
Mr Adams said that any suspension of the institutions, however brief, would be illegal. He added that, no one should suppose that the parties could simply return to the issues in a few weeks time. He warned the British government that it would have to calculate what the effect of any action would have on the integrity of the agreement.
Mr Adams added that any suspension by the British Government for a second time would amount to Tony Blair acquiescing to a Unionist veto and would change everything. The reality was, he said, that the process was at a crossroads.
Speaking after an hour long meeting with Dr Reid today, Sir Reg Empey said that Unionists would make their own decisions. "We have made no threats. We will make our own decisions on whatever we do in our own time and in what we believe is in the best interests of the people we represent," he said. Dr Reid will have to decide this weekend whether to suspend the North's devolved institutions or call fresh elections.
The Sinn Féin President urged Dr Reid not to suspend the Assembly. Gerry Adams said that to do so would create a new situation and would breach the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Trimble, who earlier rejected the IRA statement on decommissioning, said that suspension of the institutions was his favoured option.
Speaking at Stormont this morning, David Trimble said that the IRA statement, while welcome, was still not nearly enough to persuade him to resume his role as First Minister and return to government with Sinn Féin.
Mr Trimble said that, if the Assembly collapsed or was put into suspension at the weekend, the blame would lie squarely with Republicans as a result of their failure to begin actual arms decommissioning.
Even at this late stage, he said that the IRA could still save the peace process and the institutions, if they began decommissioning their weapons. Mr Trimble also indicated that he might be prepared to accept a one-day suspension of the Stormont Assembly if there were reason to hope Republicans would start getting ride of their guns.
In a statement this morning, the IRA said that it had agreed a scheme with the decommissioning body to put its weapons completely and verifiably beyond use. It also said that it re-established contact with the International Decommissioning panel on 8 March and that the IRA leadership has met the panel eight times since then.
The statement noted the attempts in some quarters to prevent progress, saying that they should not be allowed to succeed. It concluded that the IRA representative would continue to meet the International Decommissioning panel and would continue to monitor developments.
The SDLP's Mark Durkan said that now was not the time to discuss suspension of the Executive and fresh elections. Mr Durkan said that the British and Irish governments should now redraft the package they drew up after last month's Weston Park talks, to take account of the IRA's move on decommissioning.
Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey said earlier that the weapons scheme, confirmed by the IRA, meant that Mr Trimble should re-enter the political institutions immediately. However, the Ulster Unionist Minister, Michael McGimpsey, said that the IRA statement was significant but was too little, too late.
His party colleagues were equally pessimistic about the statement. Jeffrey Donaldson said that the statement did nothing more than mark time. MPs Reverend Martin Smyth said that there was nothing more significant in this statement than the choreographing of a Republican campaign to continue to extract more concessions from the British Government. The Deputy leader of the DUP, Peter Robinson, said that, once again, the IRA had offered words, but no guns.
