Failure to re-elect Mr David Trimble as First Minister could result in more violence erupting on the streets of Northern Ireland, a senior Ulster Unionist has warned.
Proposing Mr Trimble and the SDLP's Mr Mark Durkan for the positions of First and Deputy First Ministers during yesterday's Assembly debate, the former acting First Minister, Sir Reg Empey, said there was a deep sense of frustration in the community.
For the first time all parts of the Belfast Agreement were being implemented simultaneously, yet the power-sharing institutions were facing yet another serious crisis. Events on the streets of north Belfast and elsewhere across the North were "not totally unrelated" to events in the Assembly chamber, he added.
"I do not believe it profits any unionist to make Northern Ireland appear ungovernable. That only benefits republicans, and it has been clear for some time that they have already anticipated that opportunity."
He was unhappy about the kind of "film-set scenario" created in south Armagh, where journalists from all over the world were flown in for some "angle-grinding action", Sir Reg added.
The former Deputy First Minister, Mr SΘamus Mallon, thanked Mr Trimble for his "courtesy and diligence" when they had been working together as First and Deputy First Ministers.
"Mr Trimble has not had an easy time and I wish him well, both as the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and as First Minister." The report by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning was a source of hope, Mr Mallon added. He could foresee a time where there would be an "end to ego-tripping and an end to the sham of being part of all the advantages of the institutions but none of the responsibilities".
Debating the Women's Coalition amendment to redesignate its two members as "unionist" and "nationalist" respectively for the day, the SDLP's Mr Alban Maginness described the move as "very sensible". It would help to ensure that the crucial vote would "not be confined by the narrow restraints of tribalism".
Sinn FΘin's chief whip, Mr Alex Maskey, also supported the redesignation, saying that the "politics of exclusion" had been practised for long enough.
The Progressive Unionist Party's Mr David Ervine complained about the jovial atmosphere in the chamber, describing it as a "superior versus inferior clash".
"Let me remind you that many people out there will be dismayed by the goings-on here . . . The Women's Coalition has been chastised for trying to save the agreement - well, maybe they are just trying to save lives." His comments were followed by mutters of "nonsense", and he criticised those "taking delight in disaster".
One of the two Women's Coalition's MLAs, Ms Jane Morrice, who had registered her redesignation as unionist, said that the IRA's historic move had put pressure on all MLAs to ensure that the institutions would not be plunged into a new crisis.