Suspension of Northern Ireland Assembly seen as only way forward for peace process

The Northern Ireland Assembly is expected to be suspended for months on Monday, after yesterday's constructive but apparently unproductive meeting between Tony Blair and Gerry Adams.

After the Downing Street talks, Mr Blair said the situation, partly prompted by the IRA spying crisis, was no longer sustainable.

As he headed for Russia to hold talks with President Putin on Iraq, Mr Blair said: "You cannot carry on in a situation where there is not simply the perception, but the reality, of a dual track, paramilitary and political at the same time. I think everyone understands that, and the question is how you get the last bit of it done.

"There's no way this is sustainable unless there's an absolutely clear commitment, unequivocally, to peaceful means. That's why there's a problem."

Mr Adams, the Sinn Fein president, said the meeting with the Prime Minister had been "cordial, honest and frank" and rejected suggestions he had been summoned to Downing Street for a "cross between High Noon and Gunfight at the OK Corral".

But he warned: "If Mr Trimble wishes to walk out of the institutions let him walk out, because when we get to putting all of this together again, Unionism will have to walk back in again."

With David Trimble vowing to withdraw his Ulster Unionist ministers from the power-sharing Executive by Tuesday, the Government has bowed to the inevitable and accepted that a period of cold storage cannot be avoided.

While all sides accept that this is a setback for the Good Friday Agreement, many participants in the peace process, including the British and Irish governments and Sinn Fein, do not feel that the Agreement is on the point of collapse.

Although the local administration is the centrepiece of the accord, it has other important facets that will be preserved while attempts are made to revive devolved government. At the same time, no one underestimates the difficulties of putting the Executive back together again.

Suspension will be followed by a review in which the British and Irish governments seek to find agreement between republicans and Unionists.

Although some parties are ostensibly against suspension, almost all privately accept that it is the least damaging way of buying time to deal with the present crisis.

Both the format of the review and its duration have yet to be decided. Time will be needed to allow jangled political nerves to calm down, but London and Dublin will want to create momentum so that hopes can be kept alive.

While all sides will be called upon to show flexibility, most believe that the prospect of success hinges on the possibility of the IRA making a move of such significance that it will restore Protestant faith in the Agreement.

The practical effects of the spying crisis continued to reverberate through the security system yesterday. The head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service expressed his staff's concern that personal details may have fallen into the hands of the IRA.

Peter Russell said: "This is gnawing at our officers. Police need to identify names as fast as they possibly can. They are under a legal obligation to notify all these people, but it's causing anxiety that they are not yet in a position to do that."

A special police unit has been set up to examine the large amounts of material uncovered by searches of six houses in Belfast last week. A computer database listing a majority of the prison service's 2,000 staff was among items that were recovered.