The leader of the UUP, Mr David Trimble, will further raise the political temperature in Northern Ireland today with a fresh demand for British and Irish proposals to exclude Sinn Féin from a revived Stormont Executive.
In a letter to the Taoiseach, which The Irish Times has seen, he calls for a specific Dublin/London response to the "latest breaches of the republican ceasefire" he says were revealed in the Irish Government briefing paper disclosed by UTV on Wednesday following a meeting of the British-Irish Inter- Governmental Council.
Mr Trimble has written in similar terms to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and is warning both prime ministers that the UUP's continued participation in the current talks process is "dependent on a satisfactory response to this issue" from the two governments. UUP sources last night insisted Mr Trimble's letter represented a real and significant hardening of his position.
This came just hours after Mr Trimble led a unionist/loyalist walk-out from the latest session of multi-party talks at Stormont. It also follows his U-turn last week on the proposed devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly in light of the alleged IRA spying operation at the heart of the Northern Ireland Office.
Mr Trimble cites revelations in the briefing paper - believed to have been prepared for the previous IGC meeting in October - as evidence the IRA has continued "targeting, training and acquiring weapons" in the months since the exposure of the alleged spy ring and, specifically, in the period after Mr Blair's warning of July 24th "that if republicans continued to persist in such activity . . . he would not hesitate to use the powers available to him."
UUP sources confirmed this to mean Mr Trimble wants the British to take action to have Sinn Féin removed from ministerial office in a restored Executive at Stormont.
In his letter Mr Trimble tells Mr Ahern: "In light of these recent revelations, which clearly are the shared view of Her Majesty's Government and the Irish Government, I must await your proposals for responding to these latest breaches of the republican ceasefire.
"Our continued participation in the current process is dependent on a satisfactory response to this issue," the UUP leader tells the Taoiseach.
Following yesterday's walk-out, Mr Trimble insisted it was for the British government to clarify whether the IRA was still actively involved in paramilitary activities.
The British and Irish governments last night mounted a damage limitation exercise.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, in Stormont last night said the governments were to put together a detailed agenda to help drive the negotiations forward next month.
They refused to field questions on the document - it also indicates the IRA is not a threat to the peace process though Mr Trimble made no reference to this element of it.
Mr Cowen said he recognised and greatly regretted how publication of details in the confidential paper could complicate an "already difficult situation".
Considerable store is being placed on behind-the-scenes negotiations involving London and Dublin with senior republicans to determine if the IRA will commit itself to carrying out the "acts of completion" called for by Mr Blair, according to well-placed sources.