Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds has said his party "will not take Sinn Féin's word" on its commitment to the peace process. Mr Dodds also said there must be a "credible period of testing" of Sinn Féin's intentions, particularly with regard to policing.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday urged Sinn Féin to call a special ardfheis on policing "as soon as possible".
Mr Dodds, the MP for north Belfast, referred to suggestions that Sinn Féin may call an executive meeting on policing in January. "Of course we have been here before with this sort of thing from Sinn Féin and they tend to bowl short, even if the words are good and sound convincing . . . We will not be taking them at their word because we know we cannot trust them at their word. They have gone back on their word so many times."
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics, Mr Dodds said it was "increasingly difficult" to see how the governments' deadline of March 26th for the restoration of devolution could be met, particularly as Sinn Féin had yet to support policing.
"It is just 100 days to March 26th and after 35 years of attacking the police, murdering the police, undermining the institutions of law and order, I think many people in Northern Ireland will be saying, well, you know, 100 days is a pretty short period in which to test the bona fides of such an organisation which even today refuse to tell people to go and speak to the police."
He said Sinn Féin had to convince the community that they had changed.
Mr Dodds said the devolution of policing and justice was a "sensitive area" which required special consideration, but said his party would not be giving any date for devolution.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said that the party will not hold a conference on policing until a date is given for the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont, a plan for the department which will handle it and the exclusion of M15 from any role in civic policing.
But Mr Dodds said he stood by earlier remarks that such devolution would not take place within a 'political lifetime'. "I do not shy away from those terms at all because what the [ PSNI] chief constable has said about police is that no one can be a police officer, or even a community support officer, who has any record of terrorism or violence. How could it be that someone with a record of violence or terrorism could be running the police when you can't have someone like that in the ranks?" Mr Dodds, one of 12 Assembly members who declared that Dr Paisley and Martin McGuinness had not been designated first minister and deputy first minister, also denied a split in the party.
He rejected comparisons between the DUP of today and the Ulster Unionist party under the leadership of David Trimble.
"The DUP unlike David Trimble has gone down the path of ensuring that its executive and therefore the grassroots and elected representatives are united around a policy, which is very clear and unambiguous. David Trimble didn't do that - he presented his party with a fait accompli and rammed it through whatever the dissent."
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness yesterday urged the DUP to commit to an equal rights agenda. "The joint and equal nature of the office of the first and deputy first ministers requires the clear development of a shared agenda.
"It requires a genuine commitment to delivering equality for all and protecting the rights of all."