Hardline unionists must accept an all-Ireland agenda if they want to see a return of devolved government, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams said last night.
Mr Adams, speaking after meeting US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Mr Richard Haass in New York, said efforts to restore the power sharing institutions must go ahead urgently after the November 26th elections.
With the possibility of Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists polling strongly, Mr Adams said they would have to accept the all-Ireland nature of the Agreement.
The DUP has called on a re-negotiation of the Agreement after the elections take place.
"The DUP like all the other parties in the election has to face up to the reality that not only is the Good Friday Agreement an international treaty between two governments that cannot be re-negotiated but if they want a devolved administration the price they have to pay is it be in an all-Ireland infrastructure," he said.
During his meeting Mr Adams discussed the recent failure of unionists and republicans to agree over IRA decommissioning and the collapse of negotiations between his party and the Ulster Unionists.