Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams claimed today the two motions to exclude the party from the Executive were motiviated by a power struggle within unionism.
Mr Adams said there was no basis in the Belfast Agreement for the exclusion of his party.
The motion was not about IRA decommissioning, he said, but rather it was about "the battle for the leadership of unionism".
He said he was in no doubt that the issue of republican weapons was a huge issue for unionists, but they were largely silent on the issue of loyalist violence: "Many people listening to this debate will question whether the focus is only on one section of the arms."
Mr Adams also insisted his party would not renegotiate the Belfast Agreement.
He was speaking ahead of a debate on two unionist motions to exclude Sinn Féin from the Stormont Executive.
The SDLP's Mr Mark Durkan repeated his party's opposition to the exclusion motion when he arrived for the debate. But he said his party was opposed to the evasion of obligations such as decommissioning.
"I do believe if the IRA makes a serious move on arms under the auspices of General John de Chastelain [the head of the decommissioning body] that would be interpreted as a worthwhile and positive move," he said.
They were speaking ahead of a debate in the Assembly today on two unionist motions seeking to remove Sinn Féin’s Mr Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brún from office. The motions are expected to fail, as they do not have the support of the SDLP.
UUP leader Mr David Trimble's motion is seeking Sinn Féin's removal from the executive on the grounds that it is "not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means".
PA