Trimble should stop time wasting - Adams

Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brún chat with reporter Eamon Mallie after winning their court case against First Minister David Trimble

In the wake of Tuesday's court ruling that David Trimble acted unlawfully in excluding Sinn Féin ministers, Gerry Adams has called on the First Minister to ``set aside his sanctions against the two Sinn Féin ministers, stop time wasting and get on with the job of promoting the Good Friday Agreement and building confidence within unionism''.

``David Trimble should now set aside his sanctions against Bairbre de Brún and Martin McGuinness and get on with making the political institutions work,'' said Adams. ``Any appeal by him is a time wasting exercise.''

Adams said that the Ulster Unionist Party leader was engaging in tactics that ``undermine confidence, and especially unionist confidence, in the Good Friday Agreement.

``David Trimble should be standing up for and promoting the Agreement. The reality is that the uncertainty created by Mr. Trimble's tactics is making things easier for those engaged in the daily bomb and gun attacks on Catholic homes.''

The Sinn Féin president added that there is still a wide gap between the British government's position on policing and the proposals contained in the Patten report.

``Given the history of the RUC and the significance of policing, it is important that we make every effort to get this issue right,'' he said. ``That means no one and no party should allow itself to be shoe horned into accepting anything less on policing than the new beginning promised by the Good Friday Agreement.''