The DUP has categorically denied a claim by Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, that there has been indirect contact between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
While DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley has previously warned that any party member engaged in any form of dealings with Sinn Féin would be drummed out of the party, Mr McGuinness has said a channel of secret contact has been established.
"There is no direct contact between Sinn Féin and the DUP. I have never met Peter Robinson or Nigel Dodds or anybody acting on their behalf, but we are talking to people who are talking to them," he told BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme last night.
"And they know who those people are. In fact the approach did not come from us to them, but the approach came from them to us. There was no direct approach, it was through third parties," added Mr McGuinness.
Asked was he clearly stating there was indirect contact between the two parties, he replied,
"Oh absolutely, it is something that began last year."
DUP deputy leader Mr Robinson insisted that there was no contact between his party and Sinn Féin, either directly or through intermediaries.
Mr Ian Paisley jnr said: "There must be an election coming because the incidence of spin, misinformation and black propaganda grows daily. The latest outpouring by McGuinness should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
"How many times must it be repeated that 'there has been no contact, direct or indirect, or by any other means with Sinn Féin/IRA'.
"That organisation, supplemented by the Ulster Unionists and the Northern Ireland Office, are in the business of smear and guilt by implication and will have their comeuppance when the people of Northern Ireland speak at the election once the Secretary of State has the nerve to name the date."
