The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has called on Mr David Trimble and the Ulster Unionist Party to provide the leadership necessary to allow for the formation of the executive provided for in the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Quinn told party members in Cork yesterday that, under the agreement, Sinn Fein could not legally be excluded from entry into the executive because of a failure by paramilitary groups to begin decommissioning.
He said that Mr Trimble would have to honour, with the other parties, his agreement on the 10-person executive made with the SDLP before Christmas. "Obviously, this will involve courage on Mr Trimble's part, but without it the process is in danger of running aground."
The Labour leader said that Sinn Fein and the IRA obviously had a role to play, too. "Notwithstanding the absence of a prior legal obligation on paramilitary groups to decommission, there is a moral obligation on them to make the decommissioning gesture that would make the implementation of the next stage of the agreement so much easier. Rather than being viewed as an act of surrender, I believe such a gesture would represent an indication of self-confidence, imagination and political strength", Mr Quinn said.
