Reaction: Last night's IRA statement is "a direct consequence of the retrograde stance" of the British and Irish governments, the Sinn Féin president said last night.
Sinn Féin said the statement flowed directly from the stance adopted by the governments following recent talks with republicans in Dublin and Chequers.
Mr Gerry Adams, the party president, said: "The IRA statement is obviously a direct consequence of the retrograde stance of the two governments. It is evidence of a deepening crisis, and I regret that very much.
"The two governments have opted for confrontation. They are engaging in the sterile politics of the blame game without any regard for the consequences.
"This negative approach has effectively scuttled the enormous work done in persuading the IRA to undertake the unprecedented initiatives which they publicly outlined in December."
Unionists and the SDLP were deeply critical of the IRA statement, and a Downing Street spokesman said they were not surprised by its contents.
"The fact remains that it was the IRA that did carry out the Northern Bank robbery, and as the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach said on Tuesday, therefore it is the IRA that is the sole obstacle to moving forward."
The Northern Ireland Office declined to comment last night. A spokesman said it did not normally respond officially to IRA statements.
The SDLP deputy leader, Dr Alastair McDonnell, accused the Provisionals of having little regard for the wishes of the people of Ireland, and of adhering to the peace process only when it suited them.
"This confirms the deeply-held suspicion that the Provos were being more than a little disingenuous.
"The reality is that the IRA should not need the British government or the Irish Government to be coaxing them. They should, if they have any respect or regard for the people of Ireland, have permanently ceased all paramilitary activity a long time ago."
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said: "The words of the IRA will be treated with the contempt they deserve by all right-thinking people. Not for the first time the IRA has withdrawn its co-operation on decommissioning. This will be another attempt to bargain with the government in order to take the pressure off them.
"The Northern Bank heist confirmed that the IRA never put an offer on the table that they intended to keep. The IRA had never any intention of decommissioning in a credible, transparent and verifiable way. They never had any intention of giving up their criminal empire."
He added: "These Provo words of excuse will fool no one. Denials that they are not involved in criminality would be laughable if the situation were not so serious. IRA excuses are no longer acceptable."
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, dismissed the statement out of hand. "I think it has all the hallmarks of a guilty child attempting to hit back because it is being punished.
"None of these antics remove their guilt or responsibility, nor will they impress anybody. The DUP will not be threatened by them, and they have to give up their weapons, their paramilitary and criminal activity."
Mr Michael McGimpsey, a senior Ulster Unionist, also criticised the statement. "After years of prevarication, of stalling and of reneging on commitments, after plunging the political process into crisis after crisis, it is more than rich for the IRA to bleat about unfair treatment. Clearly £26.5 million has made republicans delirious and delusional."
The Alliance leader, Mr DavidFord, said the governments must say how the political process should proceed. "Alliance wants all parties to proceed on the basis of a firm commitment to solely peaceful and democratic values. The question now is - how will the governments work with the other parties while we wait for Sinn Fein to sign up?"