As the British and Irish governments gradually concede that the political process has come to a standstill, there was continuing confusion and recrimination over what information on IRA decommissioning was available when the political institutions were suspended last Friday.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, yesterday insisted that it was only after he suspended the institutions of the Belfast Agreement at 5 p.m. on Friday that he was fully aware of a new, more positive response from the IRA on arms.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) issued this response yesterday evening after the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had said earlier in the Dail that he had informed the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, of the new development very early on Friday morning.
Mr Ahern said his officials in Belfast were informed about an IRA contact with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning at around 4.30 a.m. on Friday, over 12 hours before the suspension announcement by Mr Mandelson. This information was then passed to Mr Blair.
A Sinn Fein MLA, Mr Conor Murphy, accused Mr Mandelson of failing to fully explain what happened on Friday. "There is a high degree of news management going on behalf of the British government," he said at Stormont yesterday.
However, the NIO said that while Mr Mandelson was aware of "papers being circulated on Friday", he did not have firm knowledge of what they amounted to until 6.30 p.m., 90 minutes after the suspension.
"We were not aware of their status until the second de Chastelain report had been published at 6.30 p.m. Nothing emerged until the Secretary of State had told Gerry Adams that he was going to suspend the Assembly [at 5 p.m.]," said an NIO spokeswoman.
A British government source said that despite Sinn Fein claims that Mr Mandelson must have known the substance of the second de Chastelain report, nothing "coherent" emerged until the institutions were suspended at 5 p.m.
Very little political movement is expected in the coming days and possibly weeks. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, Mr David Trimble, travelled to the US yesterday for a week's lecture tour. Mr Mandelson is due in Dublin today for what his spokesman said was a private visit.
The British source admitted that no political progress was expected in the short term. "The British and Irish governments are trying to establish where we are going from here, but that is not going to happen overnight."
The IRA yesterday blamed the British government, Mr Mandel son and the UUP leadership for the political process being in "deep crisis". A spokesman is quoted as telling yesterday's An Phoblacht/Republican News that Mr Mandelson "succumbed to the unionist veto".
"So responsibility for this crisis rests squarely on his shoulders. We should not forget, however, that the peace process has been in a state of almost continual crisis caused by the [UUP] leadership's refusal to support the implementation of the Good Friday agreement."
The spokesman said the British government must take immediate steps to rescind the suspension and re-establish the political institutions. There was no point in continuing to deal with the decommissioning body. "What is the point engaging with a body which the British government has rendered irrelevant?" he asked.
The IRA "never entered into any agreement, undertaking or understanding, at any time with anyone on any aspect of decommissioning. Neither the British government, the Irish Government or the UUP has contradicted this".
A former DUP minister, Mr Nigel Dodds, said the fate of the Assembly Executive effectively was in the hands of the SDLP. The SDLP must now decide whether it would enter into government with unionists, with Sinn Fein excluded.
The SDLP, in response, said it still wanted to see the inclusive politics of the Belfast Agreement implemented. It accused the DUP of wishing to set aside the agreement "in favour of some half-baked, ultra-unionist pipe dream which would have no chance of working whatsoever".
