The Downing Street proposals are workable but not complete as they stand, according to the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble. He has said his party will not be rushed into the formation of an administration in the North until the IRA delivers on decommissioning.
Speaking yesterday after a meeting of his 27-strong Assembly party, the North's First Minister said the process needed to solve the current deadlock was complex and would take some time but that the final UUP position remained unchanged: "No guns - no government".
"I hope that the matter will resolve itself satisfactorily, but one has to appreciate because of the complexity it will take some time. I think actually that a lot of the difficulties that emerged at the weekend were because some people were trying to rush things and not doing all the work and not getting all the issues sorted out clearly," said Mr Trimble.
He said he would like to remain leader of the UUP and rejected claims that his position was under threat, saying people would be surprised if he was displaced.
Mr Trimble will meet the British prime minister, Mr Blair, in Downing Street this afternoon to seek clarification on aspects of the proposals about the arms issue. The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, are also expected for talks. Mr Adams said yesterday that the UUP request for clarification amounted to a play for time and a demand for re-negotiation.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, stressed yesterday that the UUP had not been asked to "set aside" the decommissioning issue and if the party believed this the proposals had been misinterpreted.
The current proposals commit Sinn Fein to work towards the total disarmament of paramilitary organisations by the May 2000 deadline set out in the Belfast Agreement. A progress report by the chairman of the Independent Commission on Decommissioning, Gen John de Chastelain, would decide whether Sinn Fein would be included in an administration after July 1st when power would be devolved.
The terms of the current proposals were not as comprehensive or ambitious as the Hillsborough Declaration, which purported that arms should be "put beyond use" before the formation of an executive, said Mr Trimble. "That's part of the reason why they do need to be teased out further."
The UK Unionist Party leader, Mr Robert McCartney, said it was evident Mr Trimble had been overruled by his Assembly party on Saturday.