BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CWNews.com) - The Irish Republican Army has rejected the offer by Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry to personally accept weapons from the IRA in an attempt to end the deadlock over decommissioning.

    Bishop Hegarty said on Tuesday that he was ready to act as a guarantor and supervisor for the safekeeping of a quantity of weapons "to allow time and space for the political process to develop" on the condition that the arms were "put beyond use."

    But Sinn Fein assembly member Alex Maskey said yesterday that the matter should be left to General John de Chastelain who heads the body overseeing decommissioning.

    He told the BBC: "While the bishop is responding to this sense of desperation in attempting to make a positive contribution, the most effective way of dealing with this issue is through calm and considered political dialogue and by allowing the International Independent Commission on Disarmament to do its job."

    Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the bishop's offer was a "well-intended contribution." But Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Mandelson welcomed the bishop's intervention as "courageous and imaginative." He said he hoped the parties involved would seriously consider the offer.