The Belfast Agreement would "slowly collapse" in the absence of a decisive intervention by the Irish and British governments, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, told business leaders yesterday in Dublin.
Nearly 400 directors of leading Irish companies and State bodies gathered in the Berkeley Court Hotel to have lunch with Mr Adams and hear him outline Sinn Fein's view of the economic climate and the state of the peace process.
The event was organised by the Institute of Directors, whose president, Dr Paddy Galvin, said that such an occasion would have been "inconceivable" up to a short time ago.
Mr Adams was applauded following a 40-minute address. The attendance included figures such as the Office of Public Works chairman, Mr Brian Murphy; his ESB counterpart, Mr Billy McCann; AIB director Ms Caitriona Murphy; PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Mr Roy Hannan; Mr Joe Davy of Davy Stockbrokers; and the respective chief executives of Eircell and Esat Digifone, Mr Stephen Brewer and Mr Barry Maloney.
Mr Adams told them that in the seven months since the agreement was signed, the sense of hope and expectation which had swept through the island had been slowly eroded.
He claimed the Ulster Unionist Party was engaged in a planned and determined attempt to "hollow out the core of the agreement", and the party would accept change only on its own "narrowly defined terms".
"None of us can be really surprised that David Trimble has successfully stalled the establishment of the executive and, most crucially for nationalists, the all-island ministerial council. He's doing his job from his point of view to the best of his ability," Mr Adams said.
Unless there was a decisive and determined approach by the two governments, the agreement would go into decline and slowly collapse "through a loss of credibility".
Mr Adams said he was pleased to have been invited to hear Mr Tony Blair's speech to the Houses of the Oireachtas earlier yesterday. It was clear from Mr Blair's engagement in the peace process so far that the British prime minister had the capacity and the potential to "change Anglo-Irish relations utterly".
But in the short term the challenge was to see "full implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement".
On a lighter note, Mr Adams assured his audience that he was very conscious of the difficulties and the fears unionists face. "I speak to more unionists than I speak to institutes of directors."
Prior to the lunch Mr Adams chatted informally to several guests, including the former Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds, and Ms Laura Magahy, managing director of Temple Bar Properties and a member of the institute's council.
Dr Galvin said Mr Adams was invited because "we try to select people who have something special to say that would be of interest to our members".
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, addressed institute members in September, and Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party is to attend the February luncheon.
