SDLP Assembly member Dr Joe Hendron has said the best opportunity for peace in the North for 25 years is quickly disappearing and it is up to Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA to break through the political impasse.
At a debate in Trinity College Dublin last night, he said: "Once again, the people of Northern Ireland are at the cross-roads.
"The best opportunity for peace in 25 years seems to be disappearing before their eyes.
"Is it a political poker game? Who holds the ace card? The republican movement has gained most out of the peace process. I believe Sinn Fein and the IRA can break the impasse.
"Will they assure the unionist people the war is over? Will they make a meaningful gesture by word or deed regarding decommissioning?"
Meanwhile, commenting on the British Prime Minister's remarks that republicans were divided over violence, Ms Bernadette Sands McKevitt of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement accused Mr Blair of ignoring the "root cause of the conflict" in the North, which was "British rule".
"The 32 County Sovereignty Movement calls on all the people of Ireland to stand firm against Britain's attempts to undermine what is our right - to be free to determine our future without external interference," she said.
DUP Assembly member Mr Nigel Dodds has said the campaign to retain the RUC is gaining strength. "This is Peter Mandelson's first great test," he said. "It will be up to him to prove that he is not another in a long line of secretaries of state who ignore and frustrate the will of the people of Northern Ireland."