The North's First Minister-designate and Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, has warned republicans he intends to press for the transfer of powers to a new executive, even without Sinn Fein participation.
Echoing the words of the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, he said in an interview with today's Irish Times: "The settlement train is leaving. We want you on the train, but it's leaving anyway."
Outlining the Ulster Unionist position, he said: "We want this process to move, we want it to move with Sinn Fein, but if they won't make the necessary action to get on board then we're going to have to see if we can move it anyway."
He expressed confidence that the IRA would decommission to allow Sinn Fein membership of the executive and dismissed indications from republican spokesmen that this would not take place. "I wouldn't regard what they say now as being a reliable indicator as to whether it's going to happen or not."
Decommissioning could not be avoided any longer: "For one reason or another, it's been pushed down the line, but it can't be pushed any further."
He expected the necessary Standing Order from the Northern Secretary to be presented shortly, adding that everything would be done to facilitate the formation of the executive on March 10th, the proposed date for the transfer of powers.
"Whether progress can be made on that day is not entirely in my hands because I can't deliver paramilitary decommissioning, which we would like to see happening and without which we won't be able to make progress as originally intended."
He said that without decommissioning Sinn Fein would not be part of an executive. "The question then is, will there be an executive? And that's what people will have to focus their minds on."
Mr Trimble declined to reveal his party's tactics in the event that Sinn Fein sought ministries without a decommissioning gesture. A motion to exclude the republicans from government was one possibility, and he repeated his suggestion that the process could be "parked" for a time.
"Parking is infinitely preferable to crashing," he said. Other possibilities might have to be considered. "But I would prefer to focus on our preference, our first option, which is that things go ahead." He confirmed there was continuing contact between his party and Sinn Fein but could not say whether their meetings had been productive or not.
Mr Trimble played down recent speculation that he was considering a withdrawal from politics, which he said was "not a fair reflection on the situation". But he confirmed he would like to pursue a different professional path at some stage in the future.
On the mechanics of weapons disposal, he said: "It has to be a credible and verifiable beginning of a process of decommissioning. Verification is essentially in the hands of de Chastelain's commission. We will take their word for the fact that the weapons being decommissioned came from paramilitary sources and so on. With the verification procedures there, that should be OK.
"Credible means that we're not dealing with a token gesture. It also means that we have the beginning of a process, and that it is not just a one-off but the beginning of something which will continue," Mr Trimble said.
It was highly desirable that television cameras be present. In broader terms also, he believed Gen de Chastelain "could have a significant influence on the development of events".