The Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams today said his party would not walk away from the peace process despite widespread republican anger at continued calls for the IRA to disband.
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The Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams today said his party remained committed to the peace process.
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Pressure is mounting on the Provisionals to disband and save the process after British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the group to end their armed campaign forever.
Mr Adams said today he could not understand why all the focus was on republican violence while loyalists remained active. He said his party had been among the architects of the peace process and it was important it remained on track.
"We're going to stick with it, we're not going to walk away from it," he said. "We have a common strategic objective with both the British and Irish governments. They have dunted everyone else off the stage and they have taken it upon themselves to implement this Agreement.
"We have asked them to do that, let them proceed to do it."
Earlier, the party's vice president, Mr Pat Doherty MP insisted on BBC Radio 4's Todayprogramme this morning that the IRA is not Sinn Féin's "private army" and Mr Tony Blair should not blacklist the party because of the IRA.
"Sinn Féin is in government because of its electoral mandate and its absolute commitment to the peace process," he said. "It is not just about the IRA. It is about the British military presence, it is about the loyalists, it is about a society that has many armies that have been involved in a struggle."
However, Mr David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, which has links to the loyalist UVF, strongly backed Mr Blair and said that it was up to the parties in Northern Ireland to resolve the current crisis.
"We must get round that table, deal with each other genuinely, stay away from London, stay away from Dublin, and, in effect, take absolute for how the future might look, including the disbandment, destruction and non-existence of paramilitary organisations," he said.
Later, a hardline Ulster Unionist MP dismissed Mr Blair's demand as "vacuous and empty".
Mr David Burnside claimed republicans had been let off the hook again, insisting Mr Blair had not spelled out any sanctions for failing to quit violence.
"I see no action against the Provisional IRA/Sinn Féin who continue to be involved in domestic and international terrorism and criminality," he told BBC Radio Ulster. "Therefore, what's in it?"