Senior Ulster Unionists will hold a critical meeting today to determine their party's response to the statement by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning that the IRA has proposed a method to put its weapons beyond use.
UUP Assembly and Westminster members will discuss yesterday's statement from Gen de Chastelain's decommissioning body and the proposals by the British and Irish governments to end the political crisis.
UUP leader Mr David Trimble last night said the peace process was still in crisis. While the IRA had "taken a significant step towards decommissioning, it hasn't actually begun decommissioning". Anti-agreement UUP members said the IRA's move was not enough.
With five days left until the August 12th deadline for the likely suspension of the Assembly, UUP MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said the IRA must act immediately if the process is to survive. "The important issue for unionists is not what the IRA says but what the IRA does."
In a short statement yesterday, the decommissioning body said that in a recent meeting with the commission, the IRA had proposed a method for putting its weapons beyond use.
"Based on our discussions with the IRA representative, we believe this proposal initiates a process that will put IRA arms completely and verifiably beyond use," it said. There was speculation in nationalist circles last night that there could be further movement from the IRA later this week.
The absence of precise details of when, where and how the decommissioning process will be carried out means it will be unlikely satisfy a majority of Ulster Unionists.
The Taoiseach said he believed the decommissioning body's statement was enough to move the peace process forward. In a statement from Downing Street, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who is on holiday in Mexico, said: "This is an important step forward which I warmly welcome and on which I hope we can build rapidly.
"I believe it has now the potential to resolve the arms issue to everyone's satisfaction."
Mr Gerry Adams said the statement was a "hugely significant breakthrough".
SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, also welcomed the statement and looked forward to "further significant developments".
However DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said there was nothing new in the statement.
The British government published a further "decommissioning scheme" yesterday which gives the IICD, at its own request, more flexibility on how arms might be put beyond use.
While the criteria remain that weapons are to be "permanently unusable and permanently unavailable" there is some shift in language from "decommissioning" to "putting arms beyond use".