Elected politicians from around the UK and Ireland are taking part in a meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body.

The 68-member organisation was on Monday beginning a two day meeting in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Membership of the body, which seeks to promote discussion on matters of mutual interest, is drawn from the British, Irish and Scottish parliaments, the Welsh assembly, the High Court of Tynwald, the States of Guernsey and Jersey, and the Northern Ireland assembly when it is not suspended.

For the first time a DUP delegation, led by deputy leader Peter Robinson, will address the conference.

The party said, however, that it would still not take up its seats in the body.

Commenting on the development, the SDLP's Eddie McGrady welcomed the DUP's role as a useful step forward.

"The test for the DUP is not whether they will give a presentation to the British Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, it is whether they will work each and every one of the Good Friday agreement's institutions with the rest of us including the all-important North-South agenda," he said.

"Then, and only then, will the DUP have lived up to the standard set by the Irish people in 1998."

And Arthur Morgan, a Sinn Fein member of the Irish parliament, said: "Along with all of the other members of the parliamentary body, I welcome the decision of the DUP to attend this session in Co Kerry.

"However the DUP need to use this platform to find common ground, to engage with political foes, to seek to build confidence amongst the vast majority of people who want to see the agreement work and demonstrate that they are up for inclusive power-sharing.

"If the DUP are simply going to travel the length of Ireland to grandstand for the media then an opportunity will have been lost.

"Time is pressing on and we are only a matter of weeks away from the reconvening of the assembly on May 15.

"The time for grandstanding from the DUP has long since passed."

The DUP's Jim Allister, meanwhile, said his part would not be bounced into ignoring the issue of IRA criminality.

He said at the weekend that "the issue is not just about direct IRA violence, it's about attaining an irreversible end to the whole panoply of their activities, including criminality in all its forms".