There is a sense of "crisis fatigue" in efforts to restore the Northern Ireland institutions, Sinn Féin President Mr Gerry Adams said yesterday.
Mr Adams claimed there was almost a dependency on his party to rescue the situation.
"I think there is a big problem in that most people are crisis fatigued," he told reporters in Dublin.
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin was "totally tethered" to the peace process.
"We will do our best and we have gone beyond our best on a number of occasions but it's gone past a time for rhetoric, it's gone past a time for 'hands of history on shoulders'.
"It has come down to the hard crunch of: 'Is the British government going to liberate this process by fulfilling its obligations in a way which people can both believe and have some sense of certainty about'," Mr Adams said.
He said this had not happened so far and he was trying to ensure that it happened.
Referring to the fact that the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said on Tuesday he was sceptical about a breakthrough in the process, Mr Adams said: "I don't think his downbeatedness can be a measurement for anyone.
"I can tell you in truth that we have yet to receive what the British promise to put into the process. It does appear to me that there is quite a significant gap to be filled.
"Can it be filled? Yes, of course it can. But will it be filled? We don't know."
He added: "Eventually of course all of these matters will be resolved. The frustration is that it takes so long.
"It is snail's pace, it is a battle a day. It is hard-nosed negotiations for hours and hours."
Mr Adams said the bottom line was the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, saying that five years on there was still no transparent implementation plan.
He said the problem was his party was dealing with unionists who refused to negotiate, and refused to give commitments on whether they would go into the institutions and whether they would sustain and stabilise them.
Meanwhile, Alliance Party leader Mr David Ford said the British and Irish governments needed to wake up to the dangers posed by the Assembly's system for electing Stormont first deputy ministers.
Speaking ahead of a meeting yesterday with the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, Mr Ford said: "We will . . . be putting to the Secretary of State that, unless the voting designations in the Assembly are dealt with, there can be no firm lasting settlement which will emerge next week."
Under current Assembly rules, Northern Ireland's first deputy ministers have to be elected with a majority of unionist votes at Stormont and a majority of nationalist votes. - (PA)