Talks between Sinn Fein and the British government are making progress, the party's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said today.
He said the party was working today on agreeing a deal on policing in time for restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland next March.
However, he described Democratic Unionist fears that the timetable would not be met as "provocative" and said the intervention was a cause for concern.
"For the last week Sinn Fein has been involved in intense discussions with the British government, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to try and resolve the outstanding issues in the peace process," he said.
"Progress is being made and this work will continue today. We are determined to do all that we can to find agreement with the DUP to get the power-sharing institutions up and running immediately after the March elections.
"The deliberately provocative statements yesterday from some senior DUP figures is a cause of concern to nationalists and republicans because key to moving forward is a commitment from the DUP to sharing power on the basis of equality with republicans."
The party is expected to call an Ard Comhairle, a meeting of the national executive, ahead of an Ard Fheis meeting of all members next year to rubberstamp joining policing scrutiny bodies the Policing Board and District Policing Partnerships.
Republicans have opposed engaging in policing because of concerns like the handling of police agents. The DUP has called for engagement before agreeing to form a power-sharing Government.
DUP MP Willie McCrea claimed yesterday that because of "dithering" by Sinn Fein the timetable would now be impossible to meet.