Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has accused the Democratic Unionist Party of making it harder to persuade the IRA to stand down.

Speaking in Belfast this morning, Mr Adams said hardline comments from DUP members were hampering his efforts to get the organisation to commit to exclusively peaceful means.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson has said it might take a generation before his party agrees to share power with Sinn Féin.

Mr Adams said he accepted that such comments were election-related, but said they made his task considerably more difficult.

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