Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley is worried that the Irish and British governments may come up with proposals for reviving power sharing at Stormont which will embarrass him, it was claimed tonight.
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness said after talks with British Government officials in London that it was clear the DUP was blocking political progress towards reviving the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The comment came as Mr Paisley accused the Taoiseach Mr Ahern of acting in bad faith in recent remarks about the deadlock in the peace process. Mr Paisley said tonight: "It is outrageous that Bertie Ahern is now in the business of lecturing unionists to admit Sinn Fein/IRA into the government of Northern Ireland at a time when its own party refuses to countenance Sinn Fein in power in the Republic.
"Mr Ahern would be better spending his time ensuring that Sinn Fein/IRA decommission all of its weapons in a way that satisfies everyone and brings to an end all of its activities.
"His comments indicate bad faith to the democratic community in circumstances where the Independent Monitoring Commission has indicated that the IRA is still engaged in all of the activities that both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair believed were at an end in October of last year.
"It is time the Irish Government faced up to its responsibilities and stood shoulder to shoulder with those who are demanding an end to terrorist and criminal activity."
The DUP has been pressing for changes to the way the First and Deputy First Ministers are elected in the Assembly.
This has been opposed by Sinn Féin and the SDLP who have also accused the Mr Paisley's party of trying to secure a veto over the work of other devolved ministers.
Nationalists have attacked the DUP's approach to cross Border co-operation with Government ministers, accusing them of trying to dilute it and limit their scope of it. Mr McGuinness tonight said it was clear the DUP was feeling the pressure from others in the process, including Mr Ahern who yesterday insisted a deal was tantalisingly close and that it would be an enormous tragedy if it was allowed to slip away.