The Rev Ian Paisley has put a check on British and Irish government hopes for an early political breakthrough in Northern Ireland.
British prime minister Tony Blair flies into Dublin tomorrow for talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, which both men intend will signal a fresh push for momentum in the stalled peace process.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will clear the way for intended "intensive" talks involving all the parties next month, following warnings from Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain that Assembly elections due next year cannot be held without prior agreement on the restoration of power-sharing devolution at Stormont.
However, it is understood that in his meeting with the prime minister in Downing Street yesterday the DUP leader gave Mr Blair no reason to suppose that that timetable would be met. And Dr Paisley subsequently indicated to The Irish Times that an accommodation with Sinn Féin might not occur on his watch.
He was at No 10 Downing Street to present his party's 16-page Facing Reality document, which is understood to propose a two-staged restoration of the suspended Assembly, with the appointment of Ministers deferred until unionists are satisfied about Sinn Féin's commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means and the end of all alleged IRA criminality.
The DUP leader said he would give Mr Blair time to reflect on his party's blueprint before publishing it in about 10 days.
However, the SDLP wasted no time attacking what it called the DUP's "latest shopping list", while similarly warning London and Dublin against Ulster Unionist Party proposals, also published yesterday, to restore Assembly powers to allow it to scrutinise Direct Rule ministers.
At the same time, Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy maintained that republicans would accept nothing less than the full functioning of the institutions established by the Belfast Agreement, while attacking "the foolish SDLP notion" of allowing appointed commissioners to run departments in the absence of a power-sharing Executive.
Speaking in London, Mr Murphy said: "The current situation with suspended institutions is not sustainable. The two governments have to act to build on the potential created by IRA initiatives . . . The DUP proposals presented to Tony Blair are about undoing all of this. They are an attempt to turn the clock back."
Mr Murphy told The Irish Times that recent SDLP discussions with both unionist parties appeared to raise the possibility that the SDLP might be prepared to consider alternative functions for the Assembly if approved by both governments.
However, Downing Street doubts about such a possibility were fortified as the SDLP's Alban Maginness insisted: "The two governments must hold firm and focus attention on an inclusive way forward by naming a date for restoration of the institutions of the agreement."
Asked if he could see any circumstances in which the SDLP would accept any of the proposed unionist variations, Dr Paisley said: "That's for them to decide, but they can't remain almost in partnership with Sinn Féin.
"They must realise that the people of Northern Ireland have rejected the [ Belfast] agreement. The SDLP have to decide whether they are going to flog a dead horse."
While appearing to keep the door ajar for republicans who he said had to "repudiate violence and criminality and commit to democracy," Dr Paisley said it would be "a long road, and we have to face reality."
Referring to the reported differences between police chiefs and the North's security minister Shaun Woodward, Dr Paisley suggested British ministers would no longer be able to "sell" their assessment of the state of IRA activity to unionists.