Mr Martin McGuinness has accused unionists of trying to "hype up the decommissioning issue out of proportion" and said they should not be allowed to erect new obstacles after the endorsement of the Belfast Agreement in the referendum.
The chief negotiator for Sinn Fein was speaking after a meeting between a delegation from the party and the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, at Stormont yesterday morning. He said his party wanted to ensure that the changes envisaged in the agreement would be "irreversible, wide-ranging, immediate and effective". Mr McGuinness said the discussion was wide-ranging. "I think she is aware that . . . there is an expectation in the community that the British government and all of the other parties would involve themselves in a process which will bring about the necessary change that is required to affect the day-to-day lives of ordinary people."
Issues raised at the meeting included cross-Border co-operation, policing, prisoners, demilitarisation, human rights and the equality agenda.
Mr Gerry Kelly said Dr Mowlam had told the delegation that she wanted to move ahead as quickly as possible. He said they had emphasised the need for "immediacy".
Mr Kelly said he believed Sinn Fein members would get their places on the executive of the Assembly based on their mandate. Responding to Mr David Trimble's call for Sinn Fein to appoint someone to liaise with the decommissioning commission, Mr Kelly said it was not an issue for Sinn Fein. "It is an issue for other parties. I don't speak for the IRA. The IRA speak for themselves."
It was also disclosed yesterday that Sinn Fein members elected to the Assembly will not receive their £36,000 salary. The party chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said the money would go to the party, and Assembly members would receive "an industrial wage".
Ten Sinn Fein candidates are to contest the election in the Belfast area. Mr Gerry Adams will stand in West Belfast along with two talks negotiators, Ms Bairbre de Brun and Mr Alex Maskey, and two councillors, Ms Sue Ramsey and Mr Michael Ferguson.
Mr Gerry Kelly, who was convicted of the Old Bailey bombing, will contest the election in North Belfast, as will Ms Martina McIlkenny, who spoke out against the agreement at the Sinn Fein ardfheis.
She said yesterday that she now believed it was the only way forward. Other candidates are Mr Sean Hayes in South Belfast, Mr Joe O'Donnell in East Belfast and Mr Paul Butler in Lagan Valley.
Ms Sue Ramsey said people would be voting to put Sinn Fein members into an Assembly which could not be dominated by unionists and on to an all-Ireland ministerial council "which will help bring a united and independent Ireland closer".
She said the party approached the election from a position of strength as Sinn Fein candidates secured 30,000 first-preference votes in Belfast at the local elections last year and was the largest group in Belfast City Hall.