Reaction:Northern Secretary Peter Hain said Sinn Féin's move on policing and the rule of law was "of historic importance".
There was also a qualified welcome for Gerry Adams's initiative from the main unionist parties, Alliance and the SDLP, amid warnings that delivery on support for police must match the promise.
However, different emphases from strands within the DUP could pose problems for the St Andrews timetable, which has a target date of March 26th for the restoration of powersharing.
Mr Hain emphasised what he saw as the significance of the decision to call an ardchomhairle and an ardfheis to change republican policy on the PSNI.
"I believe it is seismic in its implications for the future of Northern Ireland, of politics, policing and the rule of law.
"[ It is] on a scale at least as comparable as the IRA giving up their war last July and decommissioning their entire arsenal of weapons in September. This will allow politics to become normal in Northern Ireland with the parties co-operating together, sharing power together, nationalists and unionists and republicans, to take forward a new era in Northern Ireland."
But DUP MEP Jim Allister challenged the St Andrews timetable, saying there was too little time to test Sinn Féin's commitment. "Words are one thing. Actions which prove those as genuine and reliable are quite different."
Lord Maurice Morrow, another DUP doubter of Sinn Féin, challenged Mr Hain to state what concessions had been given to Sinn Féin in return for a move on policing and to clarify if they included a mechanism which would allow on-the-run IRA fugitives to return to Northern Ireland without being held to account. "On-the-runs has been one of Sinn Féin/IRA's demands for movement," he said. "Are we now to accept that this has been delivered?"
Another party sceptic, South Antrim MP the Rev William McCrea, said: "The period set out by the [ British] government for the restoration of devolution at Stormont would be laughable if it were not so serious."
East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson, perhaps representing the section of the DUP closest to the Rev Ian Paisley's thinking, said: "Words must be followed by clear and unambiguous action on the ground. In republican communities people must be encouraged to help, support and depend on the police . . . The DUP will be watching keenly over the coming weeks what happens on the ground in terms of tangible support for policing and justice."