Republicans are using the arms issue as a "bargaining chip" at a time when decommissioning should already have taken place, according to a leading Ulster Unionist.
"We have had all sorts of measures that were designed to provide a path for people who had previously been involved in paramilitary activity to come into the political process," Sir Reg Empey told BBC radio yesterday. "And here we are, they are still using it as a bargaining chip, they are still using it to keep the whole process on tenterhooks, and I think it is morally repugnant."
Sir Reg dismissed as "codswallop" comments made by the Sinn Fein president at the weekend. Mr Gerry Adams said re publicans would not decommission in response to unionist pressure. "It is nothing to do with unionist terms. It is a part of the agreement [whereby] people were supposed to be committed to exclusively peaceful means," Sir Reg said.
When asked why unionists would not leave decommissioning to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, Sir Reg replied: "John de Chastelain has been sitting for over three years with absolutely nothing to do and he has been doing that because people were not honouring their obligations."
He added: "Loyalists signed up to a form of modalities with the general over a year ago, and that has not led directly to loyalist disarmament. Republicans knew perfectly well when they designed the language they used a couple of weeks ago that it fell far short of actual disarmament.
"They are trying to squeeze the maximum amount of pressure to get the maximum amount of concessions. The problem is that people do not know whether they are sincere or whether it is a con," he said.
Meanwhile the DUP has accused the British government of "pandering" to republicans in an effort to stop the IRA disengaging with the IICD.
"Comments at the weekend from Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have hinted that the IRA may well pull their bogus offer from the table if they do not get further concession from the British government over the next days and weeks," the Strangford MP, Ms Iris Robinson, said. "The next six weeks will see pandering to the IRA on a scale not seen before, and we will be told that it is necessary in order to secure peace."