The British government will stick rigidly to its November deadline for a power sharing administration to be set up in Northern Ireland, Peter Hain has insisted.
In a pre-recorded television interview which will be broadcast on Sunday, the Northern Ireland Secretary stressed Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would not budge from the deadline they had set for political progress at Stormont.
As he prepared for the publication next week of the latest report on paramilitary activity by the Independent Monitoring Commission, Mr Hain said he believed the Provisional IRA was honouring its pledge last July to end its armed campaign.
But he also emphasised the government could not sustain a situation in November where the Northern Ireland Assembly had cost the taxpayer £90 million without MLAs actually governing.
"It's up to them," he told GMTV's The Sunday Programme. "We can't continue as we are and we won't.
"And the deadline on November the 24th, which will be in the new emergency bill I'll introduce on Wednesday, will make it clear that that's that ... there's no extending the deadline.
"Faced with that reality, I hope the politicians will say we actually want to do the job that we were elected for.
"And in the DUP's case and I know in Ian Paisley's case, I think they have an historic destiny as the leaders of unionism to take their place, leading unionism in government and in a devolved assembly and I hope they do."
Devolution has been suspended in Northern Ireland since October 2002 when allegations that republicans operated a spy ring at the heart of the British Government's offices at Stormont threatened to destroy power sharing for good.
Since then Northern Ireland has been ruled by a team of British government ministers.
Earlier this month, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern announced all 108 MLAs would be summoned on May 15th for the first of two bids to form an executive. However they face an awesome task, with the DUP insisting they will need to be certain the IRA has ended all criminality and paramilitarism before they will enter a government with Sinn Fein.
Under the plans, MLAs will initially be given six weeks from May 15th to form a multi-party government at Stormont.
If, as most of the parties suspect, they cannot form an executive before the summer, the Assembly will return in September and be given until November 24th to form an executive. Both Governments have warned failure to set up an executive by November 24th will result in British-Irish partnership arrangements including advancing cross-border bodies.