The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, has said he believes a deal can still be done to overcome the impasse in the peace process.
He said the meeting between the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, in Downing Street last night illustrated the gravity of the current crisis, which centres on demilitarisation, paramilitary arms and police reform.
There were signs yesterday that round-table talks incorporating all the pro-Agreement parties would not occur this week as expected. Sources close to ongoing negotiations described them as "sensitive". Mr Adams, who was speaking at the party's launch of its draft Bill of Rights for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, yesterday stressed it would be "folly" for the British government to suspend the North's political institutions for a second time.
He also said there was "no possibility" of republicans or nationalists taking part in the current recruitment drive for the new police service.
However, the policing issue could still be "sorted out", he said.
The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, said the Bill of Rights was pivotal to recapturing the essence of the Belfast Agreement lost in its translation into the Northern Ireland Act.