The prime minister and Gerry Adams have held "frank" discussions on the stalled Northern Ireland peace process.

Tony Blair convened the talks at the end of a month in which the government has twice infuriated Sinn Fein.

Earlier this week Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy announced that following the publication of a report by the Independent Monitoring Commission he would be imposing financial penalties on the party.

And before Easter he also put on hold an investigation into the death of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane.

IMC anger

Speaking after the meeting, Adams said the there had been a "very frank discussion".

He said Sinn Fein had made it clear that "we totally and absolutely reject and resent the effort by the two governments to penalise and discriminate against our party through the IMC report".

The political process in Ireland is in deep crisis," he added.

"Let me say that the Sinn Féin leadership has worked with Mr Blair, sometimes in very difficult circumstances to make this process work. We appreciate the contribution which he has made.

"The prime minister told us both publicly and privately that urgent progress is desirable and possible."

And in a conciliatory statement he added that, with the Irish government taking on the EU presidency and the UK announcing plans for a referendum it was possible that both had lost their focus on the peace process.

But he warned both governments that there is "nothing more important than completing the peace process".

End to violence

Speaking at his monthly news conference in Number 10 on Thursday, Blair defended the IMC's role.

He told reporters: "The question is, is this IMC process, the idea of an independent commission that monitors the obligations of the parties - including those of the governments, incidentally - is this going to play now a central role in the future of the peace process in Northern Ireland?