The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is not delaying devolution and will gladly share power with Sinn Fein as soon as it believes the party has become fully democratic, it was claimed today.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson insisted his party would have the most to gain from power-sharing as the largest political grouping in Northern Ireland.
Addressing for the first time the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIIPB), in Killarney, Co Kerry, the East Belfast MP told republicans that they could fast-track devolution if they verifiably ended criminality for good.
He told BIIPB members: "The DUP is openly and eagerly a devolutionist party. We want to see an Assembly exercising the fullest range of powers and we want to see it happening at the earliest possible suitable moment.
"We have advocated setting the Assembly up with the highest level of responsibility which circumstances allow, short of executive devolution, until republicans complete the process of democratisation."
Mr Robinson denied his party was delaying power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
"No party would have more to benefit from a working Assembly. We have nothing to gain from unnecessarily delaying devolution.
"It is in our interests, and more importantly, in the interests of the people we represent, that when the conditions are right we have devolution returned to Northern Ireland at the earliest opportunity."
But he added that republicans could fast-track devolution if they finally ended criminality for good, saying: "After over 30 years of terror, we want to be sure that what we have is a real and enduring peace."
The DUP delegation that attended today's BIIPB session also included Westminster MPs Iris Robinson, Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson. Today's presentation by the party ended a 16-year boycott of the BIIPB, which was established in 1990 as a link between the British and Irish governments.
Mr Robinson denied that the standards the DUP was setting for participation in power-sharing were too high.
"What we cannot accept is that any party which is in government should be inextricably linked to those who are sanctioning, organising, tolerating or benefiting from such criminality."
Mr Robinson said he hoped that the May 15th meeting of Assembly members would tackle vital social and economic issues ahead of full devolution. He rejected criticism from the Ulster Unionist Party about his party's attendance at the BIIPB.
"No intelligent unionist is opposed to a body of this nature providing it is perched on the branch of an acceptable tree."
The DUP was prepared to co-operate on economic issues with the Republic if it was in the mutual interest of both, he noted. Unionists would play a greater role in North-South initiatives if they were in the interests of Northern Ireland and not just advancing a narrow nationalist political agenda, he added.
"While no party will more stubbornly resist settling for a talked-up illusion of peace, no party will more eagerly grasp the real thing when it appears," he said.
"The DUP is capable and willing to give leadership. Nobody, Protestant or Roman Catholic, who respects the law and embraces democracy has anything to fear from the DUP."
He added: "What gain for those who vote for us we shall share with those who do not."