The Ulster Unionist Party was an honourable party which did not want the exclusion of any grouping from the Assembly but as long as the IRA refused to hand over some arms, Sinn Fein would not enter the executive, Mr John Taylor told the Assembly.
Mr Taylor, the deputy UUP leader, while again demanding prior IRA decommissioning, directed some conciliatory comments to Sinn Fein during yesterday's debate on the report covering the initial stages of eventual new North-South, British-Irish and devolved structures in Northern Ireland.
Mr Taylor said he looked forward to a new relationship between all sides in the North that "embraced the whole culture in Northern Ireland".
He said before the collapse of Stormont in 1972 his party represented the establishment, but that had changed. "We share with all parties the desire to create a better society in Northern Ireland."
The UUP was open to new and changing political relationships in the North and he added, in a reference to Sinn Fein, it did not seek to exclude any party "out of spite".
It was imperative, however, that the IRA make a gesture on decommissioning. As long as the IRA arsenal remained intact, Sinn Fein could not take ministerial positions in the executive, he said.
Mr Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party said adopting the report would render Assembly members unable to prevent Sinn Fein holding ministries. The report was playing into the hands of the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, who, he said, was openly in favour of a united Ireland.
"If Sinn Fein are placed in government without decommissioning there will be absolutely no reason at all why they should ever decommission," he added.
Mr McCartney said Sinn Fein should not be allowed into government until there was substantial IRA disarmament and until a deadline was set for the completion of decommissioning.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, claimed that the SDLP had performed a "solo run" in signing up to the report with the UUP. While the report was accepted by Sinn Fein, it fell short of what nationalists could have achieved.
Mr Gregory Campbell of the DUP complained that the report did not address "the dreaded Dword" of decommissioning. He believed that in the next two months the IRA would stage an "event" which will be "dressed up to say decommissioning has begun".
He also predicted that Mr David Trimble would sign up to a "fudge" on decommissioning and that Sinn Fein would take its two ministerial posts on the executive.
Mr Denis Haughey of the SDLP rejected Mr McLaughlin's contention that the SDLP ignored Sinn Fein during the December discussions leading to the report that was adopted yesterday.
The SDLP had made strenuous efforts to help Sinn Fein "adjust to normal democracy". He added that decommissioning was not a precondition to Sinn Fein taking a position on the executive, but it was nonetheless part of the Belfast Agreement.
It was not legitimate for Sinn Fein to say decommissioning might take place only when all parts of the agreement were implemented, he said.
Mr Seamus Close, deputy leader of the Alliance Party, said there was a "tangible" lack of trust between nationalists and unionists. The continuing stalemate between the UUP and Sinn Fein over decommissioning was providing succour for "the vultures whose aim is to wreck the whole process", he added.
Ms Monica McWilliams of the Women's Coalition said the Assembly members had a duty to support the report.
"People voted for this agreement in overwhelming numbers. There is nothing else. It is their right to have it implemented in full," she added.
