| Britain and Ireland consider response to IRA |
British and Irish officials are considering their next move in the Northern Ireland peace process after the IRA announced it would intensify its efforts to resolve the weapons issue.
There is speculation mounting that the UK Government will suspend the political institutions at Stormont for one day in a bid to buy more time to resolve the arms question.
In its statement the paramilitary group said it wanted to speed up efforts to comprehensively resolve the issue.
The Provisionals declared: "Progress will be directly influenced by the attitude of other parties to the peace process, including and especially, the British Government.
"The IRA's commitment is without question. However, as we have said before, peace making and peace keeping is a collective effort.
"It is our considered view that the Irish peace process can succeed. The continued failure or refusal to sustain the political process and to deliver real and meaningful change has a direct bearing on how this will be accomplished."
The IRA's move came hours after a leading anti-Agreement Ulster Unionist warned he would be urging his party's ministers to pull out of the province's power sharing executive if the Government opted for a one-day suspension in order to avoid the collapse of the Assembly and other political institutions at midnight on Saturday.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson claimed new UUP members would not tolerate anything other than a long-term suspension of the Assembly and a review of the Good Friday Agreement if the IRA fails to disarm by Saturday.
Under a constitutional technicality, the one-day suspension, which was deployed last month, would trigger a new six-week period for the parties to concentrate on finding a solution to the dispute over IRA arms and policing.
But Mr Donaldson warned: "The UUP will not be prepared to give any credibility to a further one-day suspension."
Story filed: 04:57 Thursday 20th September 2001
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