The Democratic Unionist Party has declared that it will go into government with Sinn Féin if the IRA puts itself out of business with significant acts of weapons decommissioning.
At a conference to launch the party's proposals for restoring the power sharing government in the north, the Reverend Ian Paisley said the days of terrorism must come to an end for good.
The party's deputy leader, Peter Robinson, told the news conference in Belfast that it would participate in a government with Sinn Féin only when it was clear that terrorist structures and weaponry had been fully addressed.
The proposals were given to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at a meeting yesterday. Reverend Paisley described the meeting with Mr Blair as a very profitable beginning.
In another development, Maurice Morrow, the party chairman from Co Fermanagh, has emerged as the DUP candidate likely to run when Ian Paisley retires from his European Parliament seat this year.
