The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, is to appeal a High Court ruling that his barring of Sinn Fein ministers from attending North/South Ministerial Council meetings was unlawful.
While welcoming many of the legal points made by the judge, Mr Justice Kerr, Mr Trimble said the court's interpretation of his reasoning behind the ban, namely to force the IRA to decommission, was "too narrow" and he would, therefore, instruct his legal team to launch an appeal.
He was pleased that the judge had rejected the argument that he had a duty to nominate Sinn Fein ministers to meetings and that the court upheld his argument that he and Mr Mallon had a discretion as to which ministers represented the Executive at such meetings.
Mr Trimble said he would take the court action to "uphold the integrity of the Belfast Agreement". He pointed to a specific point made by Mr Justice Kerr that "it would be open to the First Minister to conclude that a potential nominee was unsuitable for nomination because he had not made appropriate efforts to implement the agreement".
The anti-agreement Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, endorsed Mr Trimble's decision to appeal the court decision. He had not thought the sanction against Sinn Fein was tough enough, he added.
The two Sinn Fein ministers, Mr Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brun, pronounced themselves "delighted" at the ruling, saying they were confident Mr Trimble's challenge would "not substantially alter" yesterday's judgment.
"The First Minister was outside the terms of the agreement and in breach of his pledge of office. We expected the court to endorse our view and it has . . . His actions were preventing progress on important issues which would have benefited all the people on the island of Ireland," Mr McGuinness said.
He was not concerned that Mr Trimble could in practice appoint other ministers in place of himself and Ms de Brun to attend North/South ministerial meetings.
The Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, who was named as a co-respondent in the legal action, welcomed the ruling, which he said had vindicated his position.
"I welcome the fact that the judgment has decided that the exclusion of ministers from their necessary work in terms of North-South bodies is unlawful. I hope that now this judgment will be respected and that ministers can be nominated so that all the work can proceed."
Mr Mallon also said that there was an important point in the ruling regarding decommissioning which he hoped would be "taken on board" by the republican movement. He regretted that the issue had had to be decided in court rather than by political means.