Fulfil old deals or no deal: McCallion

But the local Sinn Féin representative warned that without progress on outstanding commitments the negotiations will go nowhere.

She said: “Sinn Féin has continued to engage with the other parties and the two governments to re-establish the Executive on the basis of equality, respect and integrity.

“This could have been done last week, and a new Executive up and working today. However, the continued refusal of the British Government and the DUP to honour previous agreements made that impossible.

“Sinn Féin remain talking to the parties and the governments, but we cannot have an endless round of talks to reach a new agreement, while other agreements are left to gather dust on the shelf. That is not credible. That is not what the public want.”

The Foyle MLA reitereated the Sinn Féin position that pledges agreed in the Good Friday Agreement and in its successor agreements need to be fulfilled before progress can be made.

“If these talks are to have any credibility, with the hope of reaching a deal, the British government and the DUP must make it clear that they will honour the agreements and the talks will move onto a programme of implementation.

“This can be achieved speedily. If previous agreements are implemented we can address the issues which are not part of existing agreements and re-establish the Executive.”