Sinn Fein has issued a strongly negative response to the outcome of this week's Hillsborough talks. Mr Gerry Adams yesterday repeated that Sinn Fein could not deliver IRA decommissioning "no matter how this is presented".
This phrase is the strongest indication so far that the provisional republican movement will not tolerate the declaration's proposal for some "voluntary" IRA decommissioning four weeks after ministers are nominated for an executive.
Republican sources were yesterday dismissive of the line in the declaration stating that decommissioning was an obligation rather than a precondition.
"There is talk in the declaration of a voluntary obligation. How can you have a voluntary obligation? It is still a precondition," said one source.
A clearer reading of the general republican reaction to the British-Irish proposals on decommissioning will be available over today and tomorrow when senior republicans address Easter commemorations throughout Ireland. Political observers will be paying particular attention to the speeches tomorrow of senior republicans such as Mr Adams, Mr Martin McGuinness, Mr Pat Doherty, Mr Gerry Kelly and Mr Martin Ferris respectively in Dublin, Derry, Dundalk, Sligo and Kerry.
An earlier indication of the general republican viewpoint should also be evident at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, this afternoon where a leading republican, Mr Brian Keenan, will be the speaker. A Sinn Fein spokesman said such speeches would be a "preliminary" view of the republican response to the Hillsborough declaration.
The response from Mr Adams yesterday will have left the British and Irish governments in no doubt that republicans are extremely unhappy with the declaration. "The impasse remains, the institutions are blocked and the agreement is stalled," he said. "It will take a huge effort to shift it."
Most worrying for the governments will be his comment: "Sinn Fein has also made it clear, both privately and publicly, that we cannot deliver the demand for IRA weapons, no matter how this is presented." Mr Adams stressed that the declaration was a "working draft" and that there was "no deal" at Hillsborough.
"Despite these difficulties, Sinn Fein will return to the renewed discussions in two weeks determined to see the full implementation of the agreement," he added.
It was apparent yesterday that while the declaration was putting extreme pressure on republicans, pro-agreement unionists led by Mr David Trimble were also under some strain.
Anti-agreement unionists, including some MPs within the Ulster Unionist Party, addressing the declaration from a point diametrically opposed to that of Sinn Fein, were highly sceptical of its proposals.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the UUP MP for Lagan Valley, described the declaration as "extremely woolly". Mr William Thompson, the UUP MP for West Tyrone, said the declaration was "almost incomprehensible".
