The leader of the SDLP, Mr John Hume, said yesterday that the IRA's text on its decision to withdraw its offer was "a very strange statement".
Mr Hume said that despite the setback he was still confident the outstanding issues of the Belfast Agreement would be resolved.
"I find it a very strange statement indeed, because there is no doubt that the statement plays straight into the hands of the anti-agreement parties," he said.
"My hope was that in the current situation, in the coming weeks, both governments and all of the pro-agreement parties would be working together to get agreement on the remaining issues, and I felt very positive about that.
"There are remaining issues still to be resolved, and in some people's minds, one issue is the cause of the others. In the unionist minds it is the lack of decommissioning. In the Sinn Fein minds it is the lack of de militarisation, but we were confident that in the coming weeks we would get full movement on all of those fronts," said Mr Hume.
"What the reaction of the anti-agreement unionists shows is that this decision of the IRA has played straight into their hands, and I would like to see that decision changed as soon as possible and a commitment from Sinn Fein to work with ourselves, with the Unionist Party and with the two governments to resolve the current difficulties.
"The responsibility for us all is to work to resolve the remaining difficulties and to put the agreement fully into practice," he said.