Sinn Féin will not co-operate with the Independent Monitoring Commission, party president Mr Gerry Adams told the Taoiseach today.
Speaking after a meeting involving the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, Mr Adams insisted the commission was outside the terms of the Belfast Agreement, describing it as "another attempt to meet the insatiable demands of elements among unionism".
But Mr Cowen insisted: "It is compliant with the Agreement, and we see it as a necessary insurance mechanism to proceed with those remaining aspects of the Agreement which are not yet completed to everyone's satisfaction, and I think the remit it has been given will allow it to make that sort of positive contribution."
Mr Adams, who was accompanied by Sinn Féin chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness, said the commission conferred powers on British ministers that they did not previously have and had not been given by the Agreement. He also pressed the party's case for early Assembly elections.
The Ulster Unionist Party's Mr Jeffrey Donaldson was critical of the consitution of the commission and its remit.He said there was no unionist representative on the board in contrast to the Irish Government appointee Mr Joe Brosnan who, Mr Donaldson insisted, would be representing nationalist interests.
He said the Irish Government would have a "crucial role" in the commission's decisions which, he said, was a breach of the Belfast Agreement."Further changes to the body are going to have to be made if this body is to be acceptable," Mr Donldson said.
However, UUP leader Mr David Trimble welcomed the announcement and said three of the members - Mr Joseph Brosnan, Mr John Grieve and Mr Richard Kerr - had detailed knowledge of paramilitarism. He said the Northern Ireland appointee Lord Alderdice was someone "who could reflect the views of thecommunity".
Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson described the body as "intentionally ineffective and far from independent".