The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, has said the DUP and its leader the Rev Ian Paisley cannot be allowed to act as a "brake" on the peace process.
However Mr Adams said he respected the DUP's mandate, and argued that there should be a "short period" during which the party's position should be explored to see if it had anything positive to offer.
Speaking at a media briefing in London ahead of talks in Downing Street today, Mr Adams said: "The presence of the DUP is symptomatic of what is wrong in the north of Ireland. We have a church leader who is also the head of a political party, and he has extreme views of people of other religions, and he has since my teenage years been against every single effort to bring about any modicum of progress."
When asked if republicans would agree to a further act of decommissioning, if the two governments decided it was needed to break the deadlock, Mr Adams said: "Well, if that is what they think then good luck to them. Let them get it, because we have done our best in all of this."
Mr Blair had to ensure continuing progress in the various strands of the Agreement, such as the policing, criminal justice, human rights and equality agendas, Mr Adams insisted.
The Sinn Féin President, who cautioned that a prolonged period of British direct rule would be "unsustainable", was asked whether fresh elections might eventually be needed to break the deadlock on power sharing.
Mr Adams said: "Our template in all of this is the Good Friday Agreement, and the Good Friday Agreement is very very clear. It is that any failure to reach agreement should lead to an election ...
"So we think that is the way the process has to go if you are to be true to the Good Friday Agreement."
PA