The Ulster Unionist Party was tonight forced on the defensive for declining a meeting with a joint delegation of Irish and British politicians on the peace process.
A row erupted between the party and the SDLP as a delegation of TDs and MPs under the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Group completed a fact finding visit at Stormont.
The group included former Northern Ireland Office minister Mr Michael Mates and Fine Gael TD Mr Jim O'Keeffe, former Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Peter Brooke, former junior Foreign Minister Ms Liz O'Donnell and British Labour peer, Lord Dubs. They met the SDLP, Sinn Féin and other parties.
However the UUP did not meet them because they said the group did not fall under the control of the Belfast Agreement.
The failure of the UUP to meet the group angered former SDLP Finance Minister Mr Sean Farren who accused Mr David Trimble's party of excluding themselves from efforts to move out the Agreement out of the current political crisis.
The North Antrim MLA said the SDLP's meeting with the group had focussed on the need for an "implementation compact" for the Belfast Agreement.
"We also highlighted the need for acts of completion including an end to all forms of paramilitarism, demilitarisation as well as policing, human rights and institutional matters related to north-south and east-west as essential parts to that agreement.
"The SDLP have stressed the importance of all parties working together to move forward from this crisis. It is not helpful when some parties chose to exclude themselves from this process."
PA