The next deadline for implementation of the sequenced St Andrews Agreement on November 24th must be met or the Assembly will be dissolved, Northern Secretary Peter Hain has insisted.
As DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness engaged in blame and counter-blame for the current deadlock, Mr Hain said over the next two weeks that the two main parties must face a choice "between devolution or dissolution".
The British and Irish governments yesterday accepted Sinn Féin's conditional, and the DUP's even more qualified acquiescence to the Scottish agreement, as the basis for pushing on for the next stage of the agreement - appointing Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness respectively as first minister and deputy first minister-designate on November 24th.
But notwithstanding the lack of tangible movement on policing from Sinn Féin and on power-sharing from the DUP, and warnings of slippage in the agreement timetable, Mr Hain yesterday reiterated that Stormont would "shut up shop" if the November 24th deadline was not achieved.
Mr Hain and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern issued a statement yesterday - the deadline for the initial party response to the agreement - saying they would "now proceed to ensure full implementation of the St Andrews Agreement".
Mr Hain, who said he will introduce legislation at Westminster next Thursday to assist the implementation of the agreement, said he was not disappointed by the response of Sinn Féin and the DUP.
"We didn't expect them to literally sign their acceptance, as it were, in blood at this point," he said yesterday.
Mr Hain said the "twin pillars" of St Andrews remained in place, Sinn Féin endorsing policing and the DUP signing up to powersharing. "I'm confident that we're on the positive track and that we can get devolution up and running," he added.
Meanwhile, the DUP and Sinn Féin blamed each other for the lack of significant movement. Dr Paisley, who is to meet British prime minister Tony Blair today, accused Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, in his speech in New York on Thursday night, of trying to justify refusing to endorse the rule of law.
"There can and will be no fudging on this issue and the comments from the leader of Sinn Féin/IRA in America, signalling his refusal to support British law, are in effect a declaration of war against law and order," he said yesterday.
Mr McGuinness said if the DUP laid down "unrealisable" demands on Sinn Féin then "many people who were prepared to give Ian Paisley a fair wind in the aftermath of St Andrews might take a different view, that here we have an Ian Paisley that's actually squirming around looking for excuses as to why he should not do a deal with our party".
Will a pragmatic Paisley finish his career by 'doing the deal'? page 17
