The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday that there was no place in the Northern Ireland peace process for any group which had a private army at its disposal.
Speaking in Derry during a break in her journey to Donegal to announce new jobs, Ms Harney said that the present crisis in the process was the greatest since the Mitchell review last year.
She said that she believed anyone involved in the negotiations should be involved only on the basis of democratic principles.
"It's important that we all work together to try to resolve the impasse that has occurred over the last week", Ms Harney said. "It's deeply disappointing . . . and it's shattering the hopes of so many. This is probably the greatest difficulty since the Mitchell review was established, but I have no doubt that, with goodwill and determination, if everybody wants this to work, it will work. The only way it can't work is if people don't want it to.
"My message to everybody is that they have to honour the commitments that were made, and clearly the idea of having a private army is not compatible with the peace process. No party can continue in the process if they have a private army behind them. We cannot accept that.
"There were commitments entered into and we want to see them delivered. We want to see all the parties deliver all the commitments they made. People have entered into this process in good faith and it's important that they honour the obligations that are expected of them, and I believe they will. Hopefully, what has happened over the last week certainly can be resolved as quickly as possible. Otherwise, in a very short time, we could lose the potential of what was gained over the eight weeks while the institutions were in place."
Asked if Dublin and London were at odds over the crisis, Ms Harney said that from time to time there could be difficulties between governments in relation to how best to achieve results.
"That is natural, because between every two people there's often different emphasis, but I think it's important that the governments would continue to work together. That's what the Irish Government wants to see and no doubt is what the British government wants to see."
Asked if the Irish Government believed that the "war" was over, Ms Harney said that it was not up to the Government to say whether it was or not. She continued: "I would hope so. I would hope that those who engage in the peace process are committed to everything that entails, and that is winning the power of your argument through persuading others rather than through any other means.
"Clearly, we have got to ensure that those who participate in this process do participate on the basis of democratic principles. We want to see the institutions restored, so that the work can continue, and we want to see the decommissioning of arms. These are the two issues which have to be resolved. They go hand in hand and the two are equally important."
Ms Harney said that people should not get involved in what she called the "blame game". She added: "We have got to continue to work together in a spirit of co-operation, and I believe if we really want this process to recover from the difficulties that have arisen we have the capacity to achieve that recovery over the next few days."