Sinn FΘin has said the credibility of the North's power-sharing government could depend on ending the Holy Cross school crisis. As political efforts continue to resolve the dispute involving the Ardoyne school, Mr Gerry Adams said it provided an acid test for the administration.
"The credibility and the belief in the potential of the institutions to deliver change could well be judged on how it faces up to the challenge that this blockade presents," he said.
Mr Adams was speaking after meeting the board of governors at the school. There is speculation that there could be an imminent end to the picket. Loyalists have staged a protest outside Holy Cross for the past 12 weeks. Mr Adams said "limited" progress has been made during ongoing talks to end the dispute.
The North's First and Deputy First Ministers, Mr David Trimble and Mr Mark Durkan, are today meeting loyalist residents in the next stage of intense talks.
They have already spoken to Catholic parents and school representatives.
They are understood to be leading an Executive effort to end the sectarian clashes which have intensified in north Belfast in recent months.
Mr Adams praised the intervention of Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan but insisted there was no excuse for loyalists continuing the protest.
"Whatever concerns the residents of Glenbryn have, and they have to be dealt with, they cannot justify the actions against the children. It has been three months long and it has been three months too long."
A Protestant woman was arrested during yesterday's protest. During heavy rain, about 25 pupils and their parents went up the Ardoyne Road on three bus runs.
SDLP North Belfast MLA Mr Alban Maginness said last night the most basic human rights of Holy Cross pupils were being trampled upon. "It defies belief that children should have to go to school protected from a sectarian mob by the police and the army," he said. DUP MP for North Belfast, Mr Nigel Dodds, is due to hold further meetings with community representatives and statutory agencies today.