A senior Sinn Féin figure said today he was "disappointed" that the Government had moved to support unionist demands for sanctions on his party.
Party Chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said that progress had been made during the Belfast talks but on a "two steps forward, one step back" basis.
He said the issue of sanctions was of particular concern to Sinn Fein.
Mr McLaughlin said: "There are huge issues here and we are disappointed that the Irish Government has actually moved to a position of supporting this demand by the unionist party before they had worked out all of the detail."
He said his only regret was that the parties did not give themselves enough time.
"I think there was progress on policing. We haven't closed on it yet but we made progress," he told RTE radio.
"I think we made particular progress on criminal justice, on the equality agenda and the bill of rights, the human rights issue itself and the Irish language rights.
"And I think the work on that will continue over the next few weeks."
He said that on the whole he was pleased with the progress that was being made.
"We have to now work on closing the gaps on the remaining issues and we are concerned that the delay in the elections will allow the No camp to recuperate and to get in among those issues before they are finally closed," he added.
PA