Unionist patience is "exhausted" with the IRA's refusal to address the need to give up all paramilitary activity, David Trimble has said.

Speaking after meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street, the Ulster Unionist leader said there was little point in proceeding with round-table talks aimed at restoring devolution in Northern Ireland if the issue was not resolved.

The UUP was one of a number of political parties which held talks with the prime minister on Tuesday.

David Trimble: "Not seeking great-sounding words"

Delegations from the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Alliance Party had separate meetings with Mr Blair.

Northern Ireland's political institutions were suspended on 14 October following a row over allegations of IRA activity, including intelligence gathering at Stormont.

Mr Trimble said people in Northern Ireland wanted the republican movement to end its "love affair with the gun".

He was accompanied at the meeting by Sir Reg Empey, Michael McGimpsey and North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon.

The talks are an entirely routine part of a listening exercise to hear where the parties think we are Downing Street spokesman

He added: "Our discussions served to underline the need to maintain pressure on republicans to undertake 'acts of completion'.

"We are not seeking great-sounding words or gestures, but finality.

"The Ulster Unionist Party, indeed, all the people of Northern Ireland, want to know that the republican movement have put up the shutters, have gone out of business, have ended their love affair with the gun."

Alliance leader David Ford said the prime minster did not seem to "yet have a great idea" to how the review of the Good Friday Agreement should proceed.

Speaking after a 45 minute meeting in Downing Street, Mr Ford said Tony Blair had been "in close listening mode".

However, he said he pressed Mr Blair on a number of issues, including the appointment of someone to monitor paramilitaries and said he might have expected Mr Blair to be "a bit firmer on proposals for the way ahead".

Following his meeting, PUP leader David Ervine said: "We have got to just hope that the Belfast speech, with all its flaws, is at least the marker that we all expected to understand - that there is nothing in the background going on behind closed doors.

"We have been assured that that is the case."

'No mechanism'

The prime minister's official spokesman said the talks were an "entirely routine" part of a "listening exercise to hear where the parties think we are".

Mr Blair warned republicans the peace process could not work unless the threat of violence was lifted for good when he spoke in Belfast on 17 October.

Last week, multi-party talks aimed at restoring devolution were held at Stormont.

The discussions, which included all the pro-Agreement parties were hosted by the Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.

Following the collapse of power-sharing at Stormont, current legislation dictates that the British and Irish Governments must review the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement on which devolution was based.

But unless some common ground can be found between the parties on how to proceed, there is no mechanism for reinstating Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive.

Both the governments have stressed that there will be no re-negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement.