Paramilitaries blamed for 'NI crisis'

Mr Ahern met with Mr Durkan and Mr Trimble on Friday

The only crisis in Northern Ireland concerns the actions of paramilitaries, and not the political institutions, First Minister David Trimble has said.

He was speaking after a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Armagh on Friday.

However, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness insisted any crisis was being caused by battles "within the political leadership of unionism".

"I think we have to be honest about where we find ourselves at the moment," said the education minister.

"What we have to do as pro-Agreement politicians is to stick together to overcome these obstacles. The key to all of that is the continuing of these institutions.

"These are the people's institutions and we as the political leaders have a duty to ensure they continue."

Main party

The fourth meeting of the pro-Agreement parties and the Irish cabinet, agreed the outline of a cross border consultative body, involving the Civic Forum, and its counterpart in the Irish Republic.

The meeting also agreed to make it easier for people to move from one jurisdiction to another and established a website to give more information about this.

Mark Durkan: "Nothing earth shattering"

Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan described the meeting as "nothing earth shattering", a sentiment echoed by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

Mr Trimble said he expected the Democratic Unionist Party, the only main party not to attend the meeting, to get more involved in the Good Friday Agreement's institutions.

It was Mr Trimble's first meeting with Mr Ahern since he called for it to be made easier to exclude Sinn Fein from the Northern Ireland Executive over Colombia.

There have been allegations the IRA was training left-wing guerillas in Colombia and that the paramilitary group has been compiling lists of potential targets in the judiciary and politicians.

Implementation bodies

Earlier on Friday, the UUP leader denied newspaper reports that he intended to snub Mr Ahern at next week's talks between the British and Irish Governments and the pro-Agreement parties at Hillsborough.

Ministers have been considering extending areas of north-south co-operation.

At present, there are six implementation bodies set up under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, but that figure could rise.

A budget of £54.7m was agreed for the north-south bodies for 2002 along with the setting up of a working group to consider the roles of Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive and the North-South Ministerial Council in relation to the European Union.