The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, has said his party would enter peace talks with Sinn Féin once all IRA weapons are destroyed.
He was speaking at his party's first annual conference since last November's elections, when it became the largest party in the Northern Assembly.
He said the commitments, which carried the DUP to electoral successes would be honoured. Chief among those was a declaration that there would be no negotiations with republicans over restoring devolution while the IRA was still operating.
Mr Paisley also warned that the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would face a huge backlash if he compromised on a promise to accept nothing short of a total military shut-down from the Provisional IRA.
Earlier Mr Paisley urged delegates to ensure that the DUP candidate, Jim Allister, topped the poll in the June European elections. Mr Paisley will not be contesting the elections.
In his address, the party's deputy leader, Peter Robinson, spoke of the prospects of restoring devolved government.
He said he wanted to see devolution returned to Northern Ireland, but not at any price.
