The Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams said today he was planning to appeal to "ordinary Unionists" in a bid to keep the Belfast Agreement afloat.
Speaking in Derry today, Mr Adams said: "I would appeal to ordinary Unionists, to those who are active in the labour and trade union movement, in community organisations, the voluntary sector, the churches, just ordinary punters, to do something about this process."
Mr Adams said he will make remarks next week to attempt to express Republican concerns about Unionist fears and sensitivities. He said he would "go over the heads of their political leaders, to Unionists to understand that we are now in a period of total political uncertainty."
The Sinn Féin leader also added that he still intended to work with the Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble even if the Unionist Party is "now in anti-agreement and anti-democratic mode."
"All of the good work that has been done by a whole pile of people including political leaders from Unionism has now all been just set afloat. There is no centre of gravity to this process. I don't know anybody except the bigots or the rejectionists who would want this process to fail," he concluded.