The Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, has estimated there is only a very slim chance of the Stormont talks succeeding. He blamed the lack of momentum on Sinn Fein and the Irish Government.
Mr Taylor also accused Dublin of refusing to recognise that Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution are the real block to better co-operation "throughout our island".
"Such is the intransigence of the Dublin Government and Sinn Fein that I would suggest the likelihood of any agreement emerging from these talks as being as little as 5 per cent. Things may change, but there is little sign of it yet," he added.
"Sinn Fein are simply boring," he told the re-launched Coagh and Ardboe UUP branch last night. "They repeat the same message at every meeting, i.e. Northern Ireland is a failed entity and Utopia is around the corner if the five million people in the island of Ireland were in one sovereign Ireland.
"Sinn Fein fail to accept the principle of consent of the people of Northern Ireland, even though it is accepted by all other Irish nationalist delegates to the talks. They do not have the faintest idea about democracy," Mr Taylor added.
He said that the UUP would "contribute enormously" to improved co-operation in Ireland but it must be on the basis of mutual respect and recognition. The territorial claim must be removed for agreement on co-operation.
