Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Mr Seamus Mallon today gave the parties a week to resolve the wranglings threatening the future of the peace process.
As civil servants on both sides of the Irish Sea continued intensive behind-the-scenes discussions to find a way of overcoming the obstacles blocking progress, Mr Mallon said the process was "bleeding away" - and nothing new was on the table.
Mr Mallon supported his party leader Mr John Hume's proposal for round-table talks to get past the main sticking points of policing, demilitarisation and IRA weapons.
He said: "The object would be to draw things to a close - wherever that close leads us rather than to let the whole process bleed away as it is at present."
Matters should be wrapped up by next weekend, if the new political regime set up by the Belfast Agreement was to be safeguarded, he said.
"Anybody would recognise that we have now come to a stage there is nothing new to be said about any of these issues. There are no new bright ideas," he said.
Current negotiations are focusing on RUC reform with both the SDLP and Sinn Féin resisting pressure to join the policing boards tasked with overseeing the new-look force, which started recruiting yesterday.
Almost 3,000 calls were received on the first day of the recruitment drive according to Consensia, the company running the drive for the force, soon to be renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It is seeking 240 new officers to be on the streets by next Spring, and recruitment is being carried out on a 50-50 basis to boost the low numbers of Catholic police officers in the North - the RUC is currently more than 90 per cent Protestant.
However Mr Mallon remained firm in his criticism of the new service and said: "While there are fundamental issues to be resolved it is our business to try to resolve them.
"We have given a remarkable amount of effort to this because we do want to get policing right."
First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble has so far given a lukewarm response to the round-table proposal, and has said another review of the peace process is the most likely option.
The Government has also been impressing the urgency of the talks, with the Mr Ahern warning earlier this week that there was only days left to clear matters up.
Yesterday Sinn Féin vice-president Mr Pat Doherty claimed elements in the Irish Government were briefing against republicans by blaming them for the stalemate over policing.
PA