The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has criticised the Irish and British governments for putting the emphasis on "secret diplomacy" in their efforts to resolve the impasse in Northern Ireland.
He said a round-table process, similar to the one that produced the Belfast Agreement, needed to be initiated by both governments to timetable the commitments on policing and decommissioning in the agreement.
"All parties must take ownership of these problems and of their solution. All the weight cannot be placed on the shoulders of one or two leaders," he said.
Mr Bruton said the absence of precision in the terms of the Belfast Agreement commitments on decommissioning and policing were at the heart of the problems.
"In seeking to resile from the policing commitments in the agreement, the Ulsters Unionist Council is following the example of the Progressive Unionist Party, Sinn Fein and the Ulster Democratic Party, all of whom backed down on the decommissioning commitments," said Mr Bruton.
He said the suspension of the assembly and the round-table talks had meant that political parties were retreating into the comfort of their constituencies. They were ignoring the impact of their positions on the constituencies of other political parties.
"The two Governments have therefore been mistaken in putting all the stress on secret diplomacy to resolve the current difficulties.
"To create the political momentum needed to overcome grassroots resistance on both sides, the weight of the SDLP, the Alliance, the Women's Coalition and broad moderate opinion needs to be added to the balance," he said.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said last night that it was imperative to get the suspended executive running again. The vacuum created by its suspension was extremely dangerous, he added.
Mr Quinn welcomed the statement from Mr David Trimble that he intended remaining as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party after his victory in Saturday's leadership contest. But he expressed his disappointment at the result of the debate on the Burnside motion linking a return to the suspended executive with the retention of the name of the RUC.
"Unionists, no more than republicans, cannot cherrypick or rewrite the Good Friday agreement. Policing reform is an integral part of that agreement.
"That one community or party seems to regard the police force as its personal property is symptomatic of the problem that Mr Patten was asked to address. What he has advocated is a new beginning. He has not passed judgment on the past," said Mr Quinn.