Senior Government sources last night expressed serious concern that the proposals for the restoration of the Northern institutions would not be accepted by the Ulster Unionist Council at its meeting on Saturday.
One source pointed out that, with just two days to go, not one unionist had even begun to start selling the proposals. The source said the best that could be expected was that a decision might be postponed on Saturday in an attempt to buy time.
In the Dail yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, appealed to the UUP to accept the IRA's "weapons beyond use" offer. He said that Mr David Trimble and his party should recognise what had been achieved under the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Ahern said that these achievements should not be sidelined by what he called a "wrangle" over the RUC, although he conceded that the Government also had concerns about some aspects of the policing legislation published by the British government on Tuesday. These related to accountability on the part of the policing board and the ombudsman, particularly the power to initiate inquiries, as was envisaged in the Patten report.
The Taoiseach said that since publication of the Bill, the Government had received an 11-page list of concerns from the SDLP and a three-page list from Sinn Fein.
Mr Gerry Adams said yesterday that the British government had to restore power to the Stormont Assembly and Executive on Monday, irrespective of whether the Ulster Unionist Council accepted the Provisional IRA offer on arms. "The restoration of the institutions is dated for May 22nd. If the British government doesn't act, they will clearly be in breach of their commitments. The British government has to hold to their commitments and they need to tell unionists enough is enough."
Mr Adams said he was discouraged at the way unionists had tried to gain concessions on policing and flags. Once the obstacle of decommissioning had been overcome, the UUP had tried to put more obstacles in the way.