Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey today challenged the DUP to state whether they intend to accept the strict November 24th deadline set by the British and Irish government for devolution.
Sir Reg was speaking after all the main parties in the North met with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
After the meeting, the DUP said the Assembly must meet over the summer if the deadline is to be met.
The DUP delegation described their meeting with the premiers as relaxed and claimed that there was no mention of any alternative plan to run Northern Ireland if the parties failed to agree to restore devolution by November 24th.
But Sir Reg said the DUP should clarify their position.
"I noticed that during the course of the day the DUP are briefing that there will be no deal by November 24. That means that decisions that directly effect virtually everybody in this place will be taken on education, on rates, on water charges, on industrial rating and perhaps asset stripping at Belfast Harbour.
"If people have already decided that they are not going to do this on November 24 then will they please have the guts to say so and prevent the community from experiencing further months of disillusionment."
Sir Reg confirmed his party had tabled a 50-page document highlighting obligations on human rights which the British and Irish Governments had failed to meet.
The East Belfast MLA said the premiers had not agreed an alternative in the event devolution is not restore but Sir Reg it would almost certainly entail provisions of the old Anglo Irish Agreement giving the Republic input in Northern Ireland's affairs.
Sinn Féin Gerry Adams emerged from meeting the premiers saying his party was committed to meeting the deadline but urged the government to meet their own commitments.
"We raised a series of concerns with them including the farcical situation here in this building and also the issue of policing and demilitarisation and so on," Mr Adams said.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said they had told Mr Blair and Mr Ahern that it was time to stop pandering to the DUP and Sinn Féin by allowing them to set vetoes and preconditions to power sharing. The Foyle MP also expressed concern that a Plan B could be exploited by the DUP to signal the death of the Belfast Agreement. "The DUP may feel they have everybody where they want them, away from the Good Friday Agreement and talking about an alternative," Mr Durkan said.