The British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is unlikely to strike a deal if he visits Northern Ireland this week for talks, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams claimed tonight.
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Mr Gerry Adams
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The West Belfast MP said after a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid at Stormont that he did not believe the right ingredients were in place for a deal on decommissioning, policing and demilitarisation.
He said: "I don't think there is any point in the British Prime Minister coming here.
"If he is coming here to do a deal, then I see no basis for a visit at this time.
"If he is coming for some other purpose, well that is a matter for his judgment. But if he is coming in to do a deal on these issues, then he will have to move a lot further than a plane journey from London to Belfast.
"He will have to move back to what he committed himself to do in May and what he pledged to do under the Good Friday Agreement."
Mr Adams comments came amid pessimism in Belfast about the prospects of the deadlock in the peace process being broken.
Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble claimed in the Stormont Assembly today that the uncertainty over those new policing arrangements was undermining efforts to combat terrorism in the North.
Condemning the recent spate of paramilitary attacks including loyalist pipe bombs, Mr Trimble warned of the impact of a protracted crisis over the policing issue on the morale of the RUC.
He said: "I am concerned that the continuing uncertainty about policing arrangements will have the effect of undermining the effectiveness and morale of the RUC and limit its ability to deal with this very serious issue."
Mr Trimble also said there were concerns about IRA weapons falling into the hands of dissidents while decommissioning did not take place.
PA