DUP deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson does not discount the possibility that he could be elected First Minister following fresh elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In an exclusive interview in today's Irish Times, Mr Robinson sets the terms for any future engagement between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, while holding-out little or no prospect of such a development.
Intriguingly, Mr Robinson appears to define his requirements of Sinn Féin in language similar to that increasingly favoured by Dublin, London and the pro-agreement parties in their negotiations about "acts of completion" necessary to break the current political impasse and restore the suspended Assembly and Executive.
Confronted with Sinn Féin's belief that the DUP will eventually be forced to talk to them, Mr Robinson replies: "If Sinn Féin believe that then they must be looking to a time when they're going to start behaving themselves, give up violence and stand down the IRA. All of those issues will be coming before any Democratic Unionist would ever engage with anybody from Sinn Féin."
Looking ahead to negotiations about a replacement of the Belfast Agreement, the DUP deputy leader says it will be necessary to construct a system of government which does not require trust between the parties, and is not dependent either upon the outcome of elections or the good behaviour of those who are elected.
Mr Robinson insists that he and his leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, have never had a cross word, are following the same agenda and are agreed on the way forward. And he dismisses suggestions of a renewed Dublin/London/Washington focus on his potential as a future majority unionist leader, saying: "It's not how I see the position because it's not something I've looked at . . . I don't spend one waking moment looking at those issues. They are of no importance in the overall scheme of things." However when asked about a DUP colleague's prediction that he would be the next Stormont First Minister, Mr Robinson allows that, if devolution survives, such a position would probably exist and that the electorate would decide who would be in the leadership.
While devolution is his goal, Mr Robinson accepts that he may be unable to secure it through a re-negotiation, asserting: "If the only form of devolution on offer is going to have an IRA veto, that is not in the interest of the unionist community."