The North's First and Deputy First Ministers, Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon, have announced an ambitious programme for government including 30 new Bills to be put before the Stormont Assembly.
The legislation includes three Regional Development Bills, a Health and Personal Social Services Bill, a Children Leaving Care Bill and a Family Law Bill. Three Bills deal with housing - a Housing Bill, a Defence Premises (Landlords) Bill and a Planning (Amendment) Bill.
The development of Lough Foyle will be the objective of the Foyle Fisheries Act, while there will also be a Game (Amendment) Bill and a Dangerous Wild Animals Bill. Two Local Government Bills will also be put in front of the Assembly.
There were clashes on the unionist benches when the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, criticised Mr Trimble for not including a Bill in aid of the North's ailing agriculture in the legislative programme. Responding to earlier criticism by Mr Trimble of the two DUP ministers, Mr Gregory Campbell and Mr Maurice Morrow, for not attending Executive meetings, Dr Paisley said his party was doing "exactly what the First Minister said he would do, that if there was no decommissioning he would not be sitting down with IRA/Sinn Fein".
Mr Trimble said he noted media criticism of the number of committee meetings held behind closed doors, a situation he hoped to see remedied so the public could see how DUP members were sitting down with Sinn Fein on a daily basis.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, expressed concern about the DUP's handling of its ministries, especially in relation to the cryptosporidium outbreak. He was joined by the SDLP and the Alliance Party, whose deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, claimed the escalation of the outbreak could be attributed to a "mixture of carelessness, negligence and incompetence" by Mr Campbell, the Minister for Regional Development, and his officials.
Mr Campbell rejected the criticism, saying he had "endeavoured at all times" to deal with the crisis effectively and would liaise with the Department of Agriculture to establish whether measures could be taken to assist farmers, whose sheep were now barred from grazing in reservoir catchment areas.
He said plans to upgrade and replace the North's water system's ageing infrastructure had been brought forward and confirmed that a possible source for the cryptosporidium bug was human, something alleged by his predecessor, Mr Peter Robinson, at the weekend.
Mr Mallon criticised the DUP ministers for their attitude towards the Executive, saying the fact that Northern Ireland had these days an administration of its own was "something worth nurturing".
"To have it on the basis of a four-party coalition is very difficult indeed. It is made more difficult where we do not have the opportunity of developing the collective responsibility that we owe to the people of Northern Ireland and that collectivity which will make it the very finest administration eventually."