The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has said he is disappointed with the IRA's stance on how to restore the suspended institutions. An IRA spokesman has ruled out the possibility of a gesture on disarmament which could lead to the restoration of the Executive and the Assembly.
Mr Peter Mandelson told a press conference in the British embassy in Washington he found the IRA briefing earlier this week "disappointing". He realised it was "designed to re-assure the republican grassroots" but addressing just one's own side "guarantees only further impasse".
It was necessary "to get over that retreating into tribal bun kers" and to come together to get talks going. The challenge of the next few weeks was "to pick up the pieces and channel our energies into resolving the difficulties which led to the suspension and reviving the institutions on an even firmer footing than before".
Mr Mandelson said that "the late shift in the IRA's position as reported by [Gen. John] de Chastelain was an encouraging start on which we might now build, and we have to do so quickly. One of the lessons of the past is that if we do not keep moving forward, we run the risk of stalling completely. In the coming weeks, I will bend every sinew in that effort."
Mr Mandelson ruled out another review. "You can only mount that kind of exercise once." A different approach was needed with the British and Irish governments providing facilities for the local parties and politicians to come together, mend their disagreements and find a way forward. There should be "no more heads in the sand, no more walking away, no more laying down the law, no more sulking".
"From now on, the test of everyone's commitment will not be how powerfully they articulate their own tribal politics, but how constructively they seek to accommodate others' fear and needs. History will be unforgiving of those who spare any effort to find a way through."
Mr Mandelson later met national security officials.
Republicans must be excluded from government in the North if they fail to give a definitive answer to whether or not they intend to disarm, according to an Ulster Unionist Assembly member.
Addressing university students in Liverpool yesterday, Dr Esmond Birnie said unionists had "nothing more to give and nowhere else to move" and the current impasse had to be resolved by republicans.
"This process cannot move forward in its present form until the IRA are forced into a one-word answer on decommissioning - yes or no. If they are unwilling or unable to give us an answer, then democrats must draw the only available conclusion, close and bolt the door," Dr Birnie said.