The Irish and British governments will tomorrow warn Sinn Féin and other politicians linked to paramilitary groups that continuing paramilitarism could "destroy" the peace process, according to Dublin and London sources. Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor, reports.
The governments decided to step up pressure on Sinn Féin and loyalist politicians after the upheaval triggered by the alleged IRA attack on republican dissident Mr Bobby Tohill threatened attempts to restore devolution.
The governments indicated their seriousness of intent by cancelling today's Strand One meeting of the review of the Belfast Agreement, covering issues related to Northern Ireland, so that paramilitarism could be solely addressed tomorrow.
"Paramilitarism is undermining the whole political process. It has the potential to destroy the whole political project if it is not addressed. It is poisoning whatever trust still exists between the parties," said a senior Irish insider last night.
The governments hope that this concentration on IRA and loyalist activity will stave off Mr David Trimble's threat to lead his Ulster Unionist Party out of the review today.
Mr Trimble last week warned that he would walk away from the review if Sinn Féin was not forced out of the review because of the attack on Mr Tohill in a Belfast city centre pub on Friday week.
However, Mr Trimble now faces the possibility of being finessed by the DUP after a DUP spokesman confirmed yesterday that the Rev Ian Paisley's party would not boycott the review.
Mr Trimble is meeting his Assembly team this morning to decide what strategy to follow.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, standing in for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who is in the US, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, will chair tomorrow's meeting.
"David Trimble said he wanted paramilitarism top of the agenda, and now he has that, so where would be the sense in the UUP abandoning the process," said one London source.
Irish sources, following on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern's comments last week that incidents such as the attack on Mr Tohill were damaging the political process, insisted last night that paramilitary violence could no longer be evaded.
Republicans, however, have dismissed all claims that the IRA was chiefly responsible for the current political logjam, and this was made clear at the weekend Sinn Féin ardfheis in the RDS.
"Yes, the current stalemate is a crisis, a dangerous crisis," said Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, at the ardfheis yesterday. "But it is not a crisis that began one week ago outside a bar in Belfast. It is not a crisis around the IRA or IRA intentions."
Mr McGuinness said Sinn Féin had no difficulty with tomorrow's focus being on paramilitarism, and indicated his party's concentration would be on the activities of the UDA and UVF "and the very big issue of the continuing British government involvement in loyalist paramilitary activity".
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, in his key-note address on Saturday, also denied that the IRA was in any way to blame for the current impasse. He said the IRA had honoured its pledges while the British and Irish governments and unionists politicians reneged on theirs.
He indicated that were the Belfast Agreement fully implemented, there would be a requirement for the IRA to respond positively.