Sinn Féin view: Mr Martin McGuinness has confirmed that progress has been achieved in the high-powered negotiations to restore the Executive and Assembly. His colleague Mr Pat Doherty said he expected the IRA to act in a "very constructive way".
Ahead of today's crucial pro-Belfast Agreement talks at Hillsborough hosted by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator said that the negotiations had been "tough, focused and detailed".
"It has not been an easy negotiation. It has only moved into a higher gear in recent weeks. Nonetheless some movement has emerged, particularly around a British government commitment to new legislation on policing and criminal justice," he said.
"There has also been some progress on these and other matters that don't require legislation," Mr McGuinness added at a republican commemoration in south Armagh yesterday.
Republicans are still refusing to disclose what the IRA might do in return for a comprehensive package dealing with issues such as demilitarisation, devolving criminal justice and policing.
The British and Irish governments believe that Sinn Féin and the IRA are prepared to take radical steps to safeguard the Belfast Agreement. They are chiefly seeking initial major acts of decommissioning by the IRA to be followed by a timetable of IRA decommissioning that would run in tandem with demilitarisation, a verifiable commitment that the IRA has ended all paramilitary activity, and Sinn Féin joining the Policing Board. In south Armagh, Mr McGuinness said "our goal is to achieve progress across all the issues, like policing, criminal justice, demilitarisation, equality, human rights, and the Irish language, as well as tackling the future sustainability and stability of the political institutions, and what that means for unionists".
Mr McGuinness insisted Sinn Féin would not accept the imposition of sanctions against politicians who were seen to be in breach of their commitment to democracy and non-violence, as the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, is demanding.
"Any move to introduce sanctions would be entirely outside the terms of the Good Friday agreement and will be resisted by us.
"Under no circumstances will Sinn Féin accept the rights of our electorate being diluted and denied," he said.
