Unionists opposed to the Belfast Agreement have criticised the Hillsborough declaration for failing to properly address decommissioning, while the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said the British-Irish document offered the best political way forward.
Dr Mowlam said in Bangor, Co Down, yesterday there could be no going back for the peace process. "I think we have come a long, long way. This week we made a lot of progress, the parties worked very hard."
She said important steps were taken because of the collective acts taken by the pro-agreement parties in the four days of talks at Hillsborough, chaired by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
"I think if they continue that collective responsibility we will continue to make progress. I now think it is time to move on. The road is clear and we should move down it," said Dr Mowlam.
Despite Sinn Fein continuing to insist it cannot deliver IRA decommissioning, Dr Mowlam said, "I believe their commitment to making peace is very strong, but to find the road to go down is one we have to work at together. I'm sure that progress will be made."
Dr Mowlam said she was not disappointed she was unable this week to trigger the mechanism setting up the executive. "You can force along things if you want to, but I don't think that is the way forward. People have got to be there with their parties around them being sure that they are happy, then it has the stability and degree of trust."
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), which is linked to the UVF, would not comment on the declaration last Thursday. But yesterday the party spokesman, Mr David Ervine, said what emerged from the Hillsborough talks was "extremely significant".
"What we are seeing here is the crumbling of the pan-nationalist front, an Exocet being fired, not at Gerry Adams, but directly into the IRA Army Council. It is conceivable that we have seen Adams allow someone else tell the IRA the bad news that they did not deliver at Easter with their statement," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
Mr Ervine said the statement had probably persuaded the British and Irish governments to "throw the gauntlet down to the IRA". He believed Sinn Fein did not have political room to manoeuvre because the IRA would not allow it. He feared now that the IRA was "under the spotlight" that elements in the anti-Belfast Agreement bloc would "let them off the hook".
He said his party was committed to the Belfast Agreement. Asked if the UVF would decommission, Mr Ervine said: "That debate continues. I am not despondent about the start of that debate."
Mr Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party said the Hillsborough document was "the ultimate April Fool's charter". He claimed Mr David Trimble had effectively conceded there would be no substantial decommissioning.
"This feeble collapse in his negotiation position is of course hailed as a courageous step forward by Messrs Blair and Ahern," said Mr McCartney. The UUP rank and file should not allow Mr Trimble "to fool them one last fatal time".
The anti-agreement Union First group said the declaration was an appalling fudge. It opened the way for "sham disarmament qualifying as an act of reconciliation."
Mr Peter King and Mr Peter Weir of Union First appealed in particular to the UUP Assembly member, Mr Roy Beggs jnr, to oppose the declaration. His defection to the anti-agreement camp could create sufficient numbers for that bloc to halt the agreement.
"Our conclusion is that support for this declaration by our party leader would represent nothing short of a complete policy volte-face. We would ask Mr Beggs and others to act accordingly."
Dr Esmond Birnie, a pro-agreement UUP Assembly member, said Mr Trimble was following a "hard-headed and realistic" strategy while the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, and "his acolytes" were "shouting madly from the sidelines".
"I regret to say that there are some so-called unionists for which the real objection is not Sinn Fein inclusion in the executive but the inclusion of any nationalists. I am sorry to say, as we are about to enter the 21st century, that there are some unionists, as they perhaps dream about going back to a pre-1972 Stormont, who have hardly reached the late 20th century," said Dr Birnie.
