A formula to save the Northern Ireland peace process must be found by the end of January, the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) told a trade union conference in Dublin at the weekend.
"It scares the life out of me that we've got such a short time to create a formula between two implacable opposites", Mr David Ervine told the Dublin Public Sector Regional Conference of SIPTU. Mr Ervine and the chairman of Sinn Fein, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, spoke at the conference on the theme, "Working Together and Partnership".
The PUP leader said that Mr Seamus Mallon's offer at the SDLP conference to act `as guarantor to both sides on the issue of decommissioning was an attempt to put together "the building bricks for a formula".
"The question now is will Mr Trimble and Mr Adams reciprocate, or will the SDLP be left floundering with another reasonable idea?
"Our political leaders are frightened. We have to give the sense that they have support. How much easier would that be if we were able to hear the words, `The war is over' or even, `Provided the agreement is implemented the war is over'?
"Why can't we say it? Is it because of some macho ideological bent or is it because the troops on the ground won't have it?" Mr Ervine asked.
Mr McLaughlin said everyone in the North was "getting closer and closer to the point where all of us can say with credibility and with confidence that the war is over. We're not there yet, but we're getting there, and with patience and strength and commitment, you'll see that we'll get to that point.
"People need to realise that we're still only taking the baby steps. We're approaching the stage where we can take strides, but that will take time." Sinn Fein and the SDLP were inseparable in their commitment to making the process work, he added.
However, Mr McLaughlin said the agreement was "already in default" as a result of the failure to set up the full shadow executive by the October 31st deadline.
"David Trimble and other unionists have clearly decided that what they could not achieve in negotiations they will now attempt to achieve by refusing to implement or by stalling the agreement which they themselves helped to negotiate. Their stance puts the entire agreement at risk."
Mr McLaughlin called on the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to "get directly involved again and take up the challenge posed by Mr Trimble's stalling of the process".
Referring to Sinn Fein, Mr Ervine said: "Don't tell me everyone else has to change when you yourself find it impossible to change. Having accused people of operating a form of apartheid for many years with some justification, the political apartheid that's contained in GAA Rule 21 and the Sinn Fein attitude to Donegal Celtic playing a football match is quite incredible."
Mr Ervine said he still believed the leadership of Sinn Fein wanted the process to work. "The problem is I want my community to believe it as well."
