Government plans for a referendum in June on Irish citizenship prove the Belfast Agreement is dead, the Reverend Ian Paisley claimed tonight.
The DUP leader was reacting to the decision to hold a referendum in June on whether to restrict the right to Irish citizenship for children born to foreign nationals.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell has been criticised for not consulting politicians on both sides of the border about the move.
Mr Paisley said: "Anyone who argued that the Belfast Agreement could not be changed has clearly been proven wrong by the actions of the Dublin Government.
"In holding a referendum to amend Articles Two and Three of the Irish Constitution, the Irish Government are unilaterally amending the 1998 Agreement.
"The Dublin Government have fundamentally breached the Belfast Agreement by not consulting over the proposed changes.
"This only further serves to highlight that the Belfast Agreement is dead."
Under the Belfast Agreement, anyone born on the island of Ireland, on both sides of the border, is entitled to Irish citizenship.
However, the Government is trying to restrict that entitlement amid concerns that some non-nationals are having babies in the Republic to bypass asylum regulations.
It has drawn up legislation restricting the right to citizenship of children born in Ireland to non-national parents unless at least one of them has lived in the country for at least three of the previous four years.
The move by Mr McDowell has been severely criticised by the nationalist SDLP in Northern Ireland.
The head of the Human Rights Commission, Mr Maurice Manning, also said Mr McDowell should have allowed more time for consultation.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin announced its national executive will meet this weekend to plan its campaign of opposition for the referendum which will be held on June 11 - the same day as the European Elections.
PA