The Irish and British governments must match republican efforts to enhance the Belfast Agreement by delivering more on police reform, demilitarisation, justice and equality issues, Sínn Fein claimed tonight.
As officials in Dublin and London worked on measures to secure stable government for Northern Ireland, Sínn Fein national chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin insisted republicans had moved on the weapons issue despite claims from rival nationalists and unionists there had been no shift.
Before addressing the Friends of Ireland group at Westminster, the Foyle MLA said: "Despite what some people are saying, there has been movement on arms. Compare the IRA's position in Easter 1998 where it was ‘not a bullet, not an ounce' to where it is now.
"You have the IRA engaging with the de Chastelain Arms Commission, independent inspections of arms dumps and the IRA outlining a political context in which weapons can be put beyond use.
"What is required is a similar approach by the two governments on the other issues which can add value to the Agreement.
"There can no cutting back on or renegotiation of the commitments made on demilitarisation, a new beginning to policing, the implementation of the equality agenda and the review of the criminal justice system."
Mr McLaughlin said a "singular approach" on the issue of weapons, focusing solely on his party, would not work.
He also claimed proposals by Prime Minister Tony Blair on policing "fell well short" of what was required to secure nationalist and republican support.
"A considerable body of work will have to be done but it cannot be done with just an implementation plan. There must be legislative change to Peter Mandelson's Police Act. That is the challenge for the British Government."
London and Dublin sources were not discounting today reports that the two governments may propose to appoint an international judge to examine whether independent inquiries should be held into several controversial murders.
For nationalists and republicans, these would include the killings of solicitors Mr Pat Finucane in February 1989 and Ms Rosemary Nelson in March 1999 and Portadown Catholic Mr Robert Hamill in May 1997.
For unionists and loyalists, it would mean examining the killings of Loyalist Volunteer Force commander Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in December 1997, Lord Justice Maurice Gibson and his wife, Cecily, in April 1987 and RUC officers Mr Harry Breen and Mr Bob Buchanan in March 1989.
PA