Adams claims “decommissioning is under threat”

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has claimed that Ulster Unionist attempts to have Sinn Fein ministers expelled from the Northern Ireland Assembly will threaten decommissioning.

Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble is working on a motion to have Sinn Fein removed from their ministerial seats on the Stormont power-sharing executive, a move which Mr Adams says will bring down the Good Friday institutions.

Mr Adams hit out at Unionists who he said were focusing solely on IRA weapons. He said: “If you ask me what are the possibilities of getting the IRA to put weapons beyond use, I can only say that th4e task has been made much more difficult.”

The Sinn Fein President also said that the Northern Ireland Secretary of State’s comment on putting IRA weapons beyond use at a time when there was a loyalist campaign being waged against Catholics in North Belfast was a “disgrace”.

He said: “If those who are against the Good Friday Agreement think that they are going to bend or break Republicans then they are mistaken”. He added that Sinn Fein could not be excluded from the peace process and pledged to continue to work on the issues of decommissioning and policing.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble is attempting to draw up a Unionist motion to have Sinn Fein’s two Ministers, Health Minister Bairbre de Brun and Education Minister Martin McGuinness removed from their posts.

However, it is thought unlikely that the motion would gain enough cross-party support to attract the quorum needed to have the motion passed under assembly rules.

It is understood that Mr Trimble has agreed to an appeal made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a three-week delay on tabling the motion. This would presumably allow further attempts to be made to persuade the IRA to decommission their weapons. (SP)