Adams calls on all politicians to help end stalemate in North

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has called on all politicians "genuinely" seeking the restoration of a power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland to show leadership to help end the political stalemate.

And in an implicit reference to the "outing" of former senior party colleague Denis Donaldson as a British agent, he said there must be an "immediate end to the activities of those elements in Britain's intelligence agencies who are working day and night to prevent progress".

"Last year, despite all of the short-term difficulties and obstacles placed in the way of progress, the IRA looked to the future and took the decision to formally end its armed campaign. They set out their intent to further their objectives by peaceful and democratic means and, in so doing, addressed the concerns that unionist leaders had been expressing.

"As the months have passed it is easy to lose sight of the enormity of what took place and the opportunity that it has opened up. But I would ask people to look to 2006 with hope and confidence that progress can be made.

"Now is the time for those in political leadership to do our job. We are elected by the people in the expectation that we will work on their behalf, not to be members of a political institution that hasn't functioned in over three years. And the ordinary people of Ireland are paying a high price for this failure. The time for excuses is over.

"We have shown our commitment to the peace process by our words and actions. Others need to do the same. Sinn Féin is determined that the opportunities presented by the IRA initiative are not squandered. There still are major challenges ahead, particularly for both the British government and the unionist parties. The process has been allowed to stall for too long and the time for movement has now come."

Meanwhile, SDLP negotiator Seán Farren called on the two governments to "kickstart" the political process and exert "real pressure on the problem parties to co-operate and finally fulfil their commitments written into the Good Friday agreement".