Negotiations over the political future of the North are at their most critical stage since the start of the peace process, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, warns today.
As the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, prepared to fly to Belfast to press for an agreement by the June 30th deadline, Mr Adams, writing in the Times of London, said failure to implement the Good Friday agreement would create a dangerous vacuum. The alarm bells were ringing, he added, because the agreement had not been anchored.
Mr Adams said there was "an onerous responsibility on the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the British Prime Minister and all the parties to the agreement to ensure that it is implemented as negotiated".