Paisley dismisses idea of a deadline for Executive

Unionist reaction: Responding to the British-Irish proposals, DUP leader Ian Paisley said the onus for fully restoring devolution lay with the republican movement.

He dismissed the idea of November 24th as the deadline for reinstating the Northern Executive and Assembly and said devolution could only happen through "Sinn Féin/IRA" ending terrorism and criminality.

"By their continued pursuit of organised criminality republicans exclude themselves. The DUP will in no circumstances be in the business of putting terrorists and criminals into the government of Northern Ireland.

"Entrance to government cannot be dependent on a date but only when terror and crime carried out by those allied to a political party is gone forever.

"The DUP will not be forced, rushed or bullied into accepting any level of IRA criminality. Currently there is no evidence that Sinn Féin/IRA will be any further advanced in giving up criminality in November," said Dr Paisley.

Dr Paisley said the warning that North-South co-operation would be enhanced if the Ahern/Blair blueprint failed would allow the Republic an unwarranted involvement in the affairs of Northern Ireland.

"We assure the people of Northern Ireland that the DUP will not falter from their responsibility at this crucial time and we call on all unionists to unite to put the Southern government into their proper place as far as the internal affairs of Northern Ireland are concerned," he said.

Dr Paisley said the DUP would enter the Assembly when it is reinstated in May. "Given the reality that there will be no Executive formed for the foreseeable future, the best way forward is to get working in the Assembly. All of our election commitments will be carried out faithfully and we will be at the Assembly fighting the battle for unionism.

"Any attempt to gag the Assembly from having the exercise of full democratic debate and decisions is actually surrender to everything Sinn Fein/IRA has been fighting for," he added.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said the proposals were clearly a renewed commitment from both London and Dublin to the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, with or without devolution, which was a demonstration of the "complete failure of DUP policy" to smash the agreement.

"While threats clearly exist as a result of this statement, so do opportunities for unionists. It will be our job to ensure that it is the opportunities and not the threats that are seized in the coming months."