The UK Unionist Party leader, Mr Bob McCartney, has said that there can be no question of an unarmed police force in Northern Ireland while paramilitary groups still exist.
The UK Unionist leader said it was clear that Sinn Fein saw the RUC as a "major obstacle". He would accept reform, he said, that made the force more efficient and generally acceptable. "But if being generally acceptable means that you have to go easy on criminals or terrorists, then I'd be totally opposed to it."