Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams tonight made a fresh call for British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair to set a date for new Assembly elections in Northern Ireland.
Speaking at the end of a four-day visit to America, he said everyone he had spoken to there believed there was an urgent need for the elections to take place.
Mr Adams rounded off his trip to New York and Boston with discussions with President George Bush's special envoy to Ireland, Mr Richard Haass.
Speaking after their talks Mr Adams said: "Everyone I have spoken to in the US believes that the political imperative for the British government is to set a date certain for the election."
Yesterday Mr Blair called for a swift return to the Stormont devolution that was suspended last October.
The suspension was extended when the British government first delayed and then called off the Assembly elections which should have taken place in May.
The British government says it wanted the elections to ahead in the autumn if disputes between nationalist and unionist politicians on the way forward could be resolved.
Mr Blair said during his monthly press conference in Downing Street yesterday that the current direct rule status quo was "too fragile" and the local political institutions needed to be up and running.
He ducked questions about whether he would give the go ahead for a poll in the autumn.
Mr Adams said tonight that he had told Mr Haass that at election date had to be set.
He welcomed Mr Blair`s statement and said he hoped it was "evidence of the British government realising that the cancellation of the elections was a mistake".
The logic of Mr Blair`s position was that "he should set a date certain for the elections and that, in his words, we can see the political institutions back up and running", said Mr Adams.
PA