The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has said today that no political party with links to active paramilitary organisations can have any future role in the Northern Ireland executive.
As Northern Ireland's politicians prepared for a review of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Blair said he was "not satisfied" that the so-called acts of completion needed to show republicans had definitively turned their back on violence had taken place.
But he said he believed the Sinn Féin leadership was committed to making the peace process work and called on them to end the "ambiguity" about republican intentions.
Speaking at his monthly televised Downing Street press conference, Mr Blair issued a challenge to both unionist and republican parties.
"I hope everyone goes into the review with the idea of making it work," he said. "But let's be quite clear what the two issues are going to be.
"The two issues are going to be: one, is it clear that on the part of the unionist majority there is a willingness in principle to share power and work in the executive together with all parties that are abiding by the Belfast Agreement?" Mr Blair said.
"And two, in respect of the republican party, Sinn Fein, is there a clear understanding that we can't have a situation where any party that is in government is associated with active paramilitary organisations."
Asked if he thought the DUP should accept power-sharing with Sinn Féin so long as the IRA had not disarmed, Mr Blair said: "We can't have a situation where people are expected to sit in government with political parties attached to active paramilitary organisations.
"That is precisely the reason why we have not had a functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland, because we have not been satisfied about that."
"It's got to be clear. After five-and-a-half years of the Good Friday Agreement, you cannot expect people to sit down in government unless they are all playing by the rules. There is no way round that," he said.
Mr Blair added that his government would publish Lord Cory's report on alleged security service collusion with loyalists "as soon as the outstanding legal issues are resolved".