The Deputy First Minister has said he believes the Assembly will continue in existence, despite the threats facing it.
During questions to the First and Deputy First Ministers, Mr Seamus Mallon was asked by his SDLP colleague Mr John Dallat what provisions were being made for a Freedom of Information Act, "assuming democracy survives".
Mr Mallon replied "democracy will survive. Democracy will survive here and it will survive in this chamber and it will survive in this administration. It will survive because there have been those on both sides who have been at pains to show the alternative to democracy."
During an earlier question, Dr Ian Paisley asked Mr Trimble what the point of a corporate strategy for the office of First and Deputy First Minister was as he had already stated his intention to resign on July 1st if there was no IRA decommissioning.
"How can you have a plan when the Minister has already said he is resigning? It has taken him nearly 18 months to get to this plan," he said.
Mr Trimble said he was very interested in this question as "Dr Paisley is clearly expressing his concern about the future of this institution". This showed the DUP was "creeping towards full acceptance of the agreement", he said.
The Assembly took a technological leap ahead of the Oireachtas when it voted to allow the use of video conferencing in its committees. Under a new standing order committee members can now be located outside Stormont and count towards a committee's quorum.
The Sinn Fein chairman of the Committee on Procedures, Mr Conor Murphy, proposed the motion, describing it as an effort to provide off-site locations and allow increased opportunities for fact-finding and public meetings. He said: "The aim of this is to allow local people to have greater access to Assembly committees, and equally to allow committees to interface with local communities."
But with some committees being cancelled because the required quorum of five MLAs could not be reached, Mr Murphy added that questions had been raised about whether a meeting reaches its quota if, for example, three people were at Stormont and another two were in Omagh.
Legal advice suggested it would be better to make it clear that such a situation was acceptable.
The motion was carried after 100 per cent of nationalists in the chamber gave it their backing while just over 54 per cent of unionists also agreed to using the equipment.
In other business the Assembly granted parental responsibility to unmarried fathers who jointly registered their children's birth with the mother.