Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid tonight insisted he had acted properly and within the law when deciding not to call elections to a new Stormont Assembly for 18 months following the belated re-election of Mr David Trimble as the North’s First Minister.
He spoke out after the Democratic Unionist Party won the first round of its legal battle to force Dr Reid to call fresh elections.
A High Court judge in Belfast granted the party's deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson leave to apply for a judicial review challenging Dr Reid's decision.
The hearing is expected to go ahead in a fortnight and Mr Justice Brian Kerr said his ruling did not affect the current validity of Dr Reid’s decision.
Mr Robinson is seeking a declaration that a swift Assembly election must be held as he contends that Ulster Unionist party leader David Trimble's election on Tuesday as Northern Ireland First Minister was unlawful because it took place after the statutory six-week period for the posts being filled after they became vacant.
Under the legislation Mr Trimble's election should have taken place by midnight on November 2nd, if not it says the Secretary of State should propose a date for elections to a new Assembly.
After Mr Trimble was finally elected on Tuesday - together with the SDLP's leader-in-waiting Mr Mark Durkan as Deputy First Minister - Dr Reid said he saw no reason to propose a date other than that already laid down by Parliament, May 1st 2003.
But the DUP, which is seeking to wreck the Belfast Agreement, was furious and went to the High Court to challenge the Dr Reid.
Mr Justice Kerr said he entertained "considerable reservations" about the viability of Mr Robinson's case.
But he said despite the misgivings he had he did not consider it possible to say that the propositions on which it depended were unarguable.
The judge stressed: "Until that challenge has been heard there is no reason that the business of the Assembly should not continue."
Before a meeting with Foreign Minister Mr Brian Cowen in Dublin, Dr Reid said: "The decision this morning is that the case will be heard, it's no more than that. It is not a decision of right or wrong.
"I welcome the fact that these points can be clarified. I proposed an election date. I am convinced and confident that I have acted at all times with propriety and within the law.
"In a general sense, which is what people in Northern Ireland are concerned with, we now have a period of stability for the institutions there and I think that is to be generally welcomed."
But DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said the judge's ruling showed his party had been right to go to the court.
"It shows that what we have been saying all along has validity and there is a case to be answered and the Secretary of State has to answer that case."
Mr Robinson said he believed there was sufficient legal precedence to show that the discretion of the Secretary of State on the setting of a date for an election did not run as far as May 2003, and it should be called within a "reasonable period of time".
He said there were other issues the party was investigating which may prompt a further return to the courts.
Mr Robinson said he believed the redesignation of parties as unionist to help get the required support for Mr Trimble was invalid.
"Then we had the invalid election of First and Deputy First Ministers who I regard to be imposters at the present time because they were elected after the six-week period had expired."
PA