DUP leader Ian Paisley has dismissed plans by the two governments for restoration of the Stormont Executive within six weeks of the Assembly being recalled next month as "nonsense".
In a direct warning to the Taoiseach and the British prime minister, Dr Paisley suggested the Assembly instead be turned into a form of "shadow" with scrutiny powers.
Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair are expected in Armagh on Thursday to outline a two-stage plan allowing firstly for the restoration of the Assembly next month. Under existing rules, Assembly members would have six weeks to agree a power-sharing Executive or face suspension.
If, as expected, no Executive is agreed in June, then the second stage of the plan will see new rules drawn up which allow until late November for agreement to be reached. If there is still no agreed Executive by then, the Assembly is to be wound up completely. Sinn Féin and the SDLP stepped up their criticisms of this plan at the weekend and called on the governments to defend the Agreement against DUP pressure.
Dr Paisley made it clear what he thought of London and Dublin's intentions in an interview with the BBC. "To say that they're going to call the Assembly together to try to get an Executive set up is absolutely nonsense," he said. "They can't do that and it's not going to happen because the foundation for such a decision is not even laid and the foundation, of course, must be the end of terrorism."
Dr Paisley, who leads a DUP delegation into talks with Mr Blair tomorrow, reiterated his party's plan for a low-level form of devolution.
Nationalists warned the governments not to depart from the terms of the agreement and insisted that the DUP not be given what amounts to a veto.
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said he and his 23 fellow Assembly members would not take their seats in any DUP-favoured shadow Assembly. To do so would be "majority rule for the DUP", he claimed.
Mr Kelly's West Tyrone colleague Pat Doherty called on the governments to face down the DUP. "Sinn Féin, the Irish and British governments and most other political parties believe that the best way to end this impasse is through the restoration of the Assembly, the Executive and all-Ireland structures. The only party preventing this from happening is the DUP."
At the Labour Party conference in Dublin, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the DUP had rights under the agreement, it did not have rights over it.
"We have to hope that what the Taoiseach and prime minister announce on Thursday will not just be the source of shadowy Assembly that would be right up the DUP's street, because that could only lead to a dead end."