Tensions escalated further at Stormont today as Sinn Féin pressed First Minister Peter Robinson to agree to a major meeting of ministers from the north and south.
The meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) planned for tomorrow is under threat because of the failure to hold a meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive scheduled for today.
But republicans said that despite their dispute with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) they agreed to attend a meeting of ministers in Britain last week and now expected unionists to return the gesture.
Sinn Féin's Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy said First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson should allow the move in the interests of partnership government.
"It is now clear that the planned meeting of the Executive will not take place today," said Mr Murphy.
"Therefore Sinn Féin have submitted to the First Minister the papers required for tomorrow's NSMC meeting to be cleared through written procedure.
"This was exactly the same approach taken to last Friday's meeting of the British Irish Council in Edinburgh and people will expect the outcome to be the same.
"Sinn Féin want to see these institutions working. They are interlocked and interdependent.''
He added: "If the First Minister refuses to clear the papers then it does raise very serious questions about the DUP commitment to working these institutions and underlines the fact that the current impasse is not about whether the Executive meets but about the commitment of the DUP to partnership and equality."