Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has said the Belfast Agreement will be worthless if a court decides his party's ministers can be banned from meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC).
Last Tuesday, the Education Minister and the Health Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brun, were given leave in the High Court in Belfast to challenge Mr Trimble's refusal to nominate Sinn Fein ministers to meetings of the NSMC.
Speaking on RTE radio yesterday, Mr McGuinness said he and his party would rather the current impasse was solved politically, "but it seems there is neither the inclination or the will on the behalf of either the British government or David Trimble to do that".
Mr McGuinness said that if a court found against him and Ms de Brun, "the Good Friday Agreement isn't worth the paper it is written on. That will be a huge blow to all we have worked for over the last 10 years".
When asked whether he was saying that he and Ms de Brun would leave the Executive if they continued to be prevented from attending meetings of the NSMC, Mr McGuinness said: "we have no intention of walking away from the Executive". Speaking earlier on the BBC, Mr McGuinness reiterated his party's position that nationalists should not join the RUC and called on nationalists and republicans to form a united front on the issue of policing.
"This is a battle which is still to be won and it is winnable if nationalist and republican Ireland stands together and makes it clear to the British Government that they want a new beginning to policing. We don't want a tarted up RUC," he said.
The Government and many nationalists appeared to be waiting for the implementation plan for reform of the RUC to be published before deciding whether to support the new policing service in the North. He said the plan would detail what changes are to be made and by what date.