Sinn Féin is in denial about the cause of the current political crisis in the North, according to the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble. Suzanne Breen, Senior Northern Correspondent reports
Speaking after talks with the new Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, the UUP leader said Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams was "living in cloud cuckoo land" over the difficulties in the peace process.
"It is important we bear in mind exactly what caused and triggered the present problem and that was the activities of the republican movement," he said. Mr Adams had said the main difficulty was the failure of the British government to honour its commitments under the Belfast Agreement.
However, Mr Trimble said: "The onus remains and rests essentially with the republican movement to repair the damage that has been done." Mr Murphy also met delegations from the SDLP and the Alliance Party.
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan told the Northern Secretary that if he handled the current deadlock properly, he could deliver the return of devolution and the implementation of all aspects of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Durkan also suggested the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation could be reconvened in Dublin to help find a way out of the impasse. "Is it not right that we can use a more Irish national democratic context to show that the requirement of the agreement is something that is the intent will of the Irish people at large because it was the Irish people at large who voted for the agreement?
"Paul Murphy did not vote for the agreement. John Reid did not get voting for the agreement. Tony Blair did not get voting for the agreement. The people of Ireland did. So let the Forum reflect on that in a very useful and positive way."
Speaking after her party's meeting with the Northern Secretary, Alliance deputy leader Ms Eileen Bell expressed reservations about Mr Durkan's idea of reconvening the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation.
"If there are meetings that are going to take place with regard to the future of the Assembly and the future of Northern Ireland, they should be in Stormont's Parliament Buildings and only Parliament Buildings."
However, Ms Bell added that if the Forum was reconvened, her party might take part if others did. She told Mr Murphy that the suspension of the North's Assembly and Executive should be as short as possible. She stressed the need for all paramilitary organisations to end their activities.