Sinn Féin has expressed frustration at the pace of the political negotiations to rekindle the peace process.
The party said there must be an "intensification" of effort if the unofficial mid-March deadline for a deal is to be met.
Sinn Féin chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said there was a lack of detail from the two governments on the issues under discussion during his party's bilateral talks with the Taoiseach and Mr Tony Blair at Hillsborough Castle yesterday.
It was clearly only the beginning of the process, he said. The governments did not put detailed proposals to Sinn Féin, he added. "If there was a plan, we didn't see it. If people have ideas and formulations, they didn't set them on the table. A considerable amount of work remains to be done."
Mr McLaughlin believed the North's current political crisis might not have received the focus it merited and Sinn Féin was "frustrated" at the situation.
He acknowledged the British Prime Minister was also dealing with the impending war on Iraq. The British government was "a big machine" and he wasn't certain all elements were genuinely committed to dealing with the situation in the North.
Mr McLaughlin predicted an intensification of the political process over coming weeks. There wasn't much from yesterday's talks for his party to reflect upon, although it would continue to "touch all the bases", he said.
The meeting had focused on a range of issues including demilitarisation, policing, the human rights agenda, and the transfer of justice and policing to the North's devolved institutions.
Sinn Féin had also sought assurances that if the Assembly and Executive were restored, protective measures would be put in place to ensure they weren't brought down again.
Speaking after his party's meeting with the Taoiseach and Mr Blair, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan made no criticism of their efforts. The SDLP was frustrated at the local parties' response to the current crisis, not that of the governments, he said.
Responsibility for the situation did not lie with London or Dublin. The actions of the republican movement and the stance adopted by the Ulster Unionist Party were to blame.
Responding to Sinn Féin's complaint of a lack of detailed proposals from the governments, Mr Durkan said: "The SDLP wasn't expecting details at this stage.
"It would be unhelpful for the situation to unfold via little nuggets of information rather than all the issues being put together into an overall package. What is the point in shop-soiling things at this moment?"
SDLP Assembly member Mr Joe Byrne said Mr Ahern and Mr Blair were planning to meet again on March 3rd and he believed they were determined to intensify "the pace of the process" before then.
"Everybody knows what the issues are," Mr Byrne said. "What we need is a commitment to tackling them." Mr Durkan did not believe March was too early a date to expect progress. "What we need is not more time but more effort," he said.
Alliance leader Mr David Ford said the governments had placed the onus on the parties to put forward their ideas to break the deadlock.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair had made "very few definite proposals themselves" and were mainly "in listening mode".
"Alliance also raised its objections to the designation system in the Assembly whereby all parties must register as 'unionist', 'nationalist' or 'other'," he said.