IRA 'must share blame' - Trimble

Mr Trimble said the IRA could not just blame loyalist paramilitaries

The existence of loyalist paramilitaries is no excuse for IRA activity, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has warned.

Mr Trimble told a meeting of party activists in south Belfast on Thursday that the IRA had to bear its share of responsibility for the current political crisis.

He was speaking ahead of a review of the Good Friday Agreement due to begin on 3 February, which will involve the British and Irish Governments and parties elected to the assembly last November.

Mr Trimble called for republicans to engage in exclusively peaceful means, and warned failure to do so would lead to a long period of direct rule.

"The IRA, far from supporting the development of the Agreement, has been largely responsible for its collapse," he said.

The devolved administration was suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence-gathering in the Stormont government.

The ministers discussed how to handle the review of the Agreement

Secretary of State Paul Murphy and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen met in Dublin on Thursday to discuss how to handle the forthcoming review of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Murphy admitted it would be difficult to reach a resolution after the DUP and Sinn Fein emerged as the two largest parties in last November's Assembly elections, but insisted a breakthrough was possible during the review.

"I don't underestimate that it is obviously a difficult three months or whatever in front of us, because clearly parties have come back with a renewed mandate," he said.

"All the parties are committed to the principle of devolution, they're committed to the principle of having an executive and Assembly based upon power-sharing as outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, so that isn't a bad start."

Mr Cowen said the review would focus on how the Agreement could best be fully implemented.

"Of course we will look at how we can improve the workings of those institutions, but we're not talking about re-inventing the wheel," he said.

Both governments say they expect the review to last about three months, but no definite date for the end of the process has been specified.