Democratic Unionist Party leader Rev Ian Paisley today insisted his party was united behind him despite clear signs of internal dissent after the dramatic break up of the Assembly last Friday.
Mr Paisley refused to accept the designation as first minister but later was forced to clarify the party's position after DUP MLAs issued a statement independent of him. The Party leader indicated he would accept the position if Sinn Fein signed up to policing arrangements.
Assembly Speaker, Eileen Bell today reiterated that she was under instruction from Secretary of State Peter Hain to accept Mr Paisley's position as meeting the terms of the St Andrews Agreement.
She told MLAs this morning that she did not have the level of powers that she would have under full devolution and that she had been unable to explain Mr Hain's direction before Friday's sitting broke up. The Northern Secretary's position is supported by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Sinn Fein confirmed they would designate Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister and party leader Gerry Adams said at the end of today's 22-minute session that he accepted the Speaker's ruling.
The UK Unionist party's sole MLA Bob McCartney told today's sitting that DUP members must consider whether they were "selling their unionist principles for a mess of ministerial potage".
His position reflected concerns within Mr Paisley's party. After the Assembly was hurriedly adjourned last Friday following an attempted bomb attack at Stormont by infamous loyalist Michael Stone, 12 DUP MLAs issued a statement insisting they had not participated in a process designating first and deputy first ministers.
Today, the DUP leader scheduled a series of media briefings where he indicted he would accept the first minister position but only if was satisfied with Sinn Fein's position on policing.
"If there's now going to be a good way where we can get to a good place where we can agree; and we can agree without selling the kernel of democracy, which is obedience to the law, then let's do it," Rev Paisely told RTE.
He acknowledged that some MLAs had "second thoughts" about the party's position but added "I think that's all cleared up now, I think we're all singing form the same hymn sheet at the moment .. Today I think was a display of loyalty and unity".
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams accused Mr Hain of playing politics with the policing issue after the Northern Secretary called for clarification on when the party would call a special conference to its position on policing.
"Rather than Peter Hain asking us for clarification, he should provide clarification on these matters so we can have depoliticised civic policing [in] which every citizen can be given some sense that every police officer will be held accountable in the mechanisms outlined in the Good Friday Agreement."
Meanwhile, Alliance Party leader David Ford was among those who paid tribute to Stormont staff after Friday's attempted bombing.
"I couldn't start this speech without adding my tribute and that of my colleagues to all the staff, whether doorkeepers or within the Secretariat, who had responsibility for evacuating and clearing this building at some risk to themselves and clearly, in particular, to a small group of doorkeepers who literally put their lives on the line at the front door to protect our lives," the South Antrim MLA said.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told business leaders in London this eveing that the attack was "an echo of a terrible past".
But he said the political process was "a glimpse of a shared future" and that he and Prime Minister Tony Blair were committed implementing the St Andrews Agreement "leading to the re-establishment of a devolved power-sharing government next March".