The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, was yesterday forced to give way on the floor of the chamber when anti-agreement unionists refused to grant him additional time to speak.
Mr Mallon was half-way through his speech on the pre-Christmas pact reached by Ulster Unionists and the SDLP on the setting up of government departments and North-South bodies when he was forced to conclude.
He later responded: "They may guillotine the speech but they will not guillotine the process."
Dissenting voices from the DUP and other anti-agreement Assembly members prevented Mr Mallon from proceeding when the Initial Presiding Officer, Lord Alderdice, asked for the chamber's unanimous agreement, necessary for extra time to be granted to a speaker.
Mr Mallon released the full text of his speech to the media and added: "The evidence here today is that those opposed to the Agreement are not even prepared to accord me the elementary courtesy of allowing me to present that report."
In his speech, Mr Mallon said that he could not "hide his belief" that the Assembly meeting should have dealt with proposals to approve the formal determination of departmental structures. This would have allowed for the triggering of the d'Hondt system by the Secretary of State, Dr Mowlam, and the allocation of ministerial positions.
In place of the "determination" vote, and after a final agreement on the wording between the First and Deputy First Ministers last week, a motion to approve the report on the pre-Christmas UUPSDLP pact on government departments and North-South bodies was tabled to the Assembly.
The Rev Ian Paisley's DUP tabled an amendment to reject the report, contending it was "detrimental to the Union".
First Minister Mr David Trimble said there was "no question, no possibility" of the triggering of d'Hondt by the report. "It is not a final report because there are important matters outstanding with regard to the British-Irish council and also with regard to the civic forum."
Mr Trimble said a deadline of February 15th for a cross-community vote to be taken on a "determination" in the Assembly allowed for "all the necessary steps" to be taken on or before March 10th to provide for the devolution of power.
Turning to decommissioning, Mr Trimble said: "I have heard people sitting elsewhere in this assembly make the statement that for entry into the executive there is no precondition and in a technical sense, a very narrow technical sense, they may be right."
However, he insisted there was a "fundamental requirement" for "paramilitary-related parties" to hand over weapons.
Dr Paisley said those who approved the report and "endorse that post-dated cheque - will pay".
The UUP member Mr Reg Empey said "despite all the roaring and shouting" the DUP was "stuck in this place - they love it, they're taking every benefit from it".
He said the DUP members could "dish out" criticism, but could not take it.
Mr Empey also encouraged a resolution to decommissioning, saying it may be "the only chance this generation will have". He said there was no need for weapons other than to threaten.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said Mr Trimble was delaying, with the "spurious notion of preconditions". He said he welcomed the report but had reservations.
Mr Adams criticised what he referred to as the "politics of exclusion" exercised by the UUP in the run-up to the agreement on December 18th.
He said the party refused to engage in trilateral meetings with Sinn Fein and the SDLP in the hours before the deal.
The PUP's Mr David Ervine warned the agreement was "going down". He added that the assertion made by the deputy UUP-leader, Mr John Taylor, that the process now had only a 50 per cent chance of success was "irrationally optimistic".
"This agreement is going down because of the macho men on both sides who did not look for opportunities for choreography and simply pandered to their constituencies."
Mr Ervine said republican refusal to decommission was damaging the credibility of those within unionism who supported the agreement. However, he added: "I'd love to see the day when I could advocate it [decommissioning] and stay alive."
The leader of the Alliance party, Mr Sean Neeson, urged that Dr Mowlam's deadline of March 10th be met. "Missed deadlines have been missed opportunities," he said.
Mr Paddy Roche of the newly formed Northern Ireland Unionist Party said the formation of a 10-seat executive evenly split between nationalists and unionists represented a "recipe for deadlock".