WITH the Loyalist drums beating in the background, Tony Blair was today unveiling the legislation aimed at breaking the deadlock in the Northern Ireland peace process.
And, confronting Unionist mistrust, it was expected to set out the mechanism that will disbar Sinn Fein from continuing to serve on the planned Ulster executive if the IRA does not disarm.
But if either side is sincere in wanting the process to proceed, surely, in this make-or-break week, the juncture has been reached for the Unionists to accept this guarantee and, equally, for the IRA to simultaneously underwrite it by commencing to decommission their weapons.
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