The crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process could be resolved quickly if the IRA decommissions weapons and disbands, Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble said today.
As Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid prepared to announce suspension of the Assembly this morning, Mr Trimble said suspension would not solve the underlying problems but was simply buying time.
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The crisis in the peace process could be resolved quickly if the IRA decommissions and disbands, Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble said.
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But Mr Trimble, who has been pressing for Sinn Féin's ejection from Government instead of suspension, said: "We are again confronted with the instability that has been in the process right from the beginning - the same instability which led to previous suspensions, namely the failure of paramilitaries to deliver their side of the bargain."
Republicans had been in denial about IRA violence and it was time Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams faced up to his responsibilities, he said.
The Northern Ireland First Minister said he did not see why disbandment and decommissioning by the IRA "could not be tackled in the course of the next few weeks or months". He said: "It simply requires the people concerned to take the decision, that doesn't take very long".
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It was possible to demobilise forces quite quickly, Mr Trimble said, and if that happened there was no reason fresh elections to the Stormont Assembly could not go ahead as planned next May. But if the suspension was still in place in May he did not see scope for the elections.
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Rev Ian Paisley said he would not be entering into negotiations with Sinn Féin as long as they were inextricably linked to the IRA.
He accused the British and Irish Governments of trying to "pump oxygen" into a failed and flawed process. "What we need to do know is get back to the drawing board and face up to the issues that brought this thing to an end. No government can force its will upon the majority of the electorate.
"It has been trying to force on the majority of unionist people something that is unacceptable to them."
Mr Paisley repeated his call for fresh elections and renegotiation to change the Agreement.
PA