Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble today outlined his plans to remove Sinn Fein from the Northern Executive in an attempt to force the IRA into decommissioning its weapons.
Speaking in Westminster, Mr Trimble said there was still time left for republican weapons to be put beyond use before his party tables a motion to exclude Sinn Fein from the cabinet.
The former First Minister’s announcement came after a UUP delegation meet with members of Irish politicians in Dublin earlier today to discuss their position on decommissioning, the Sinn Fein motion and the change in atmosphere after the US attacks.
Mr Trimble warned if the motion was defeated it would be impossible for Ulster Unionist members to remain within the executive.
He added the terrorist atrocities in the US had "changed the atmosphere" in Northern Ireland, "but they do not actually change the problem that we have".
He said: "If the motion is defeated then as I have said it would be impossible for us to remain fully within the administration and we will act accordingly.
But he claimed if his party's ministers walked out on the executive "the Government will then find itself with no alternative but to suspend indefinitely the administration".
The motion, to have the two Sinn Fein ministers, Mr Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brun, removed from the cabinet, was due to be tabled on Monday but was delayed.
PA