Trimble ban hurting Agreement, says Adams

The ban on Sinn Féin attending cross-border ministerial meetings is fracturing the Belfast Agreement, party president Mr Gerry Adams said today.

Mr David Trimble is acting unlawfully, illegally, and we're going to be saying that very forcefully to Bertie Ahern Mr Pat Doherty

Speaking after an hour-long meeting with the Taoiseach at Government buildings in Dublin, Mr Adams called Mr Trimble's ban "a breach of his terms of office".

He said the situation was not sustainable in the longer term.

Mr Adams described his meeting with Mr Ahern as frank and said he was "confident that the Taoiseach has an evaluation of the situation as it stands". The delegation also included party vice-president Mr Pat Doherty and party member Mr Sean Crowe.

They discussed the sanction with Mr Ahern, which the North's First Minister Mr Trimble applied in protest at the lack of movement on Provisional IRA decommissioning.

Mr Doherty said earlier: "Mr David Trimble is acting unlawfully, illegally, and we're going to be saying that very forcefully to Bertie Ahern, just as we did last week to John Reid."

The North's Health Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brún, said the North-South Ministerial Council was clearly not functioning in the process of exclusion.

Ms de Brún said she was being prevented from doing her job.