Trimble could lift Sinn Fein ban

The North's First Minister has said he could lift his ban on Sinn Fein Assembly members taking their places at North-South ministerial council meetings.

David Trimble banned Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brun from sitting on the body because of the IRA's failure to engage in decommissioning and said today that the British Prime Minister has the final say on the suspension option.

"The question of lifting the ban is not a once-off event. It might be lifted once and then reimposed if progress is not sustained. There is a process in terms of decommissioning, in terms of the North-South institutions. It is not a one-off thing," he said.