The Northern Assembly should be closed if the deadline for agreement on the formation of an executive and decommissioning is not met, according to the Sinn Fein negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness.
After meeting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, in Belfast, he said Sinn Fein would do "everything in its power" to make a success of the negotiations due to begin later this week.
However, "if talks do not succeed then my message to the British government in particular is that the Assembly should be closed, the Assembly members' wages should be stopped and it should be made quite clear to the rejectionist unionists that the two governments are going to press on with the implementation of all the other aspects of the agreement dealing with equality, justice, policing."
Mr Andrews said he was hopeful agreement would be reached before the deadline. "We're politicians and we're in the business of optimism, and we would like to think we will conclude our talks finally to the great advantage and benefit of Ireland on June 30th."
He said there would be no retreat from the date set by the governments and difficult decisions would have to be taken during the negotiations, which are to start no later than Sunday. The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, also met Mr Andrews yesterday. Commenting on the chances of a successful outcome of the negotiations, Mr Mallon said: "If the will is there we will break through. If people hold to their absolute positions, we won't."
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said the whole Belfast Agreement should fall if the Assembly was suspended.