Parties demand election date answers

Pressure was mounting on the Irish and British governments today to state clearly whether assembly elections would take place in Northern Ireland amid increasing speculation that the government was about to call a halt to the campaign.

Pressure was mounting on the Irish and British governments today to state clearly whether assembly elections would take place in Northern Ireland amid increasing speculation that the British government was about to call a halt to the campaign.

Parties are becoming increasingly concerned that the British government would pull plans for the vote on May 29 after the apparent failure of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams’s latest attempt to explain the IRA’s position on the peace process.

As Sinn Fein prepared to transmit its election broadcast, parties were looking in particular to Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy to give them an indication whether the vote would take place as planned on May 29.

With Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble rejecting the latest statement from Mr Adams and Downing Street insisting it needed more clarity on the IRA’s attitude to paramilitary activity, republicans were insisting they were not prepared to engage in further “word games” with the British government.

A Sinn Fein source declared: “The game of scrabble with the two governments is over.

“Whatever blame can be laid at David Trimble’s door, the two governments must shoulder the blame for the current crisis.

“They know exactly what republicans have done for this process, how far they have stretched.

“No-one can doubt republican intentions.”

Yesterday Mr Adams announced that the IRA leadership was “determined that there will be no activities which will undermine in any way the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement”.

His declaration was intended to clear up uncertainty in Dublin and London in in the wake of a weekend speech answering three questions Prime Minister Tony Blair put to republicans about the IRA.

Sinn Fein had also hoped that the speech would result in the release of the British and Irish governments’ joint declaration on the future of the Good Friday Agreement, containing commitments on policing, criminal justice, equality, human rights and the scaling down of military installations in Northern Ireland.

However a Downing Street spokesman insisted yesterday it was still unclear as to whether the IRA was ending activities such as intelligence gathering, weapons procurement and the targeting of police, soldiers and other individuals.

The SDLP leader Mark Durkan argued last night that Mr Adams’s statement reflecting the IRA position was “clearly within the hinterland of what was so clearly asked of them”.

The SDLP leader called for the release of the British and Irish governments declaration and all other statements.

Mr Durkan and other political leaders were still insistent that the elections should go ahead on May 29.

If the British government were to postpone the elections, it would be the second time that they have done so this year.

In March, Mr Murphy put the date of the election back from today to May 29 in a bid to buy more time for moves from the IRA and the release of the British and Irish governments' blueprint