A Conservative MP has accused the Irish Government of blocking the publication of the de Chastelain report on progress towards paramilitary decommissioning.

Former UK home secretary Michael Howard said Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson had admitted under pressure in parliament that the Irish Government did not want the report made public.

Mr Howard was speaking to BBC Radio Ulster after a bill to suspend the power-sharing assembly in Northern Ireland and reinstate direct rule from Westminster, was passed through the Commons on Tuesday night.

The suspension legislation has been precipitated by a political crisis following the presentation of the decommissioning body's report to the British and Irish governments.

Although the report was not made public, the governments said it did not contain either a commitment by the IRA to disarm or evidence of the actual start to decommissioning needed to keep Ulster Unionists in the assembly.

But Mr Howard said people had a right to know what the report contained.

"The suspicion is that the tone of the report is so bleak that the Irish government did not want people to see it," he said.

"But I think we should be allowed to know the truth. This was a report which was set up to inform people about whether or not there has been any progress towards decommissioning.

"If there has absolutely been no progress of any kind at all we ought to know in General de Chastelain's words exactly what has happened and what has not happened."

A spokesman for the Irish government said it rejected Mr Howard's interpretation of last week's events.

The suspension bill is in the House of Lords following Commons approval.

Only a handful of MPs voted against the legislation. It is set to become law on Friday and the devolved administration could be suspended by the weekend.

Meanwhile efforts have been continuing behind the scenes to try to find a way out of the political crisis.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has been speaking to Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Peter Mandelson is meeting the Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.

A Downing Street spokesman said there was "a lot of activity going on to try to move the process forward.

"People are talking, there are a lot of people trying to make it work, there are ideas."

Bishop in weapons offer

In another development, the Catholic Bishop of Derry Dr Seamus Hegarty has offered to personally accept weapons from the IRA in an effort to ease the political crisis.

Writing in the Belfast-based nationalist newspaper, the Irish News, with the backing of the Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady, Dr Hegarty said he was ready to act as a guarantor and supervisor for the safekeeping of a quantity of weapons for a period of 12 months.

The power-sharing executive is meeting for what could be the last time before devolution is suspended.

There has been no sign that the paramilitaries are prepared to start decommissioning and halt the freezing of devolution.

Adams threatens walkout

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has issued a stark warning that he is ready to walk away from the peace process if there is a return to direct rule.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, he said he would review his position as Sinn Fein leader if the assembly is suspended at the weekend.

He said: "I don't intend to spend the rest of my life trying to shore up a process that is in perpetual crisis."

A suspension of the assembly is designed to prevent the first minister and leader of the Ulster Unionists, David Trimble, from resigning.

Mr Trimble pledged to his party in November that he would quit the assembly if the IRA had not started decommissioning by the end of January.

If the legislation clears the Lords, Mr Mandelson will be able to suspend the assembly before Saturday's crucial meeting of the ruling council of the Ulster Unionist Party.