Paul Murphy

A review of the Good Friday agreement will begin early in the new year, Paul Murphy has told MPs.

In the wake of elections that saw success for Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, the Stormont assembly remains suspended.

And hopes for re-establishing devolution now appear to be closely linked to the formal review of the agreement, which could eventually prompt Rev Ian Paisley's party to take up its seats in the power-sharing executive.

The latest stock-take on the situation is itself required under the terms of the agreement, and the Northern Ireland secretary told the Commons that he had written to all parties requesting details of the issues they wished to raise and the process by which this should be done.

"I am expecting replies by the end of December and... the review will start when we come back after the Christmas break," Murphy said.

In Northern Ireland questions on Wednesday the key issue for MPs was the failure of the IRA to decommission all of its weapons.

Murphy said that decommissioning was an "important part" of the Good Friday agreement that "hasn't gone away".

But he stressed the need to return to the principles of power-sharing, non-violence and consent.

The SDLP's Seamus Mallon indicated that the DUP could be prepared to work with the government of the Irish Republic.

And the Ulster secretary said that all parties would be talking to him and "where appropriate" the DUP would talk with Irish ministers.

Former first minister David Trimble said that recent events "have not changed the underlying problem" that paramilitarism had not ended.

He said the focus should be on "the failure of republicans to deliver peace" rather than on the mechanics of the devolved institutions.

"What we need is not just a further act of decommissioning but the completion of that process and addressing properly the winding up of paramilitary organisations," added Trimble.

The DUP's Nigel Dodds said that ministers should work with his party and recognise that "a clear majority of unionists voted for change and an end to the current process which has failed and stalled and needs to be replaced".

Murphy said he recognised the new electoral mandates "but with those mandates comes responsibility too".