Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain today said he hopes to publish a plan within weeks to provide a "bridge" towards the restoration of devolved government.
And he warned Northern Ireland Assembly members that if they rejected his scheme, he would move to block the salaries and expenses which they continue to receive even though the Assembly has been suspended since 2003.
Mr Hain said the political process was reaching a "crunch time" and he would not offer Northern Ireland's parties the "get-out clause" of calling early elections.
He told BBC1's The Politics Show: "We are planning - and we will be announcing this in the next few weeks - to bridge the gap between the Unionists, on the one hand, who want to go into a shadow assembly, and the Nationalists and Republicans, on the other, who don't want to do that.
"But at the end of that bridge, there is a gate. Either that gate will open to devolved government, which is what we want, or it will close to the assembly allowances and pay and salaries will stop.
"There will be no get-out clause of an early election. "People have to make their minds up. It is a crunch time."
Mr Hain added: "This assembly has been in existence for nearly four years. They have all been paid not to do their job. It's cost over £80 million sterling.
"We can't continue like this. Everybody agrees with that. This plan will provide that bridge between the two positions.
"Nobody will be able to avoid taking a decision. That would be the choice that confronts them."