The Rev Ian Paisley demanded talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today after his Democratic Unionist Party reacted angrily to calls for the speedy devolution of policing and justice powers.
Bertie Ahern and Gordon Brown called for the speedy devolution of policing and justice powers yesterday
First Minister Dr Paisley insisted his party would not be bullied after the Taoiseach and Mr Brown yesterday called for the completion of devolution outlined in the St Andrew's Agreement following a meeting in Manchester.
In a joint statement, Mr Ahern and Mr Brown said: "We stand ready to help the political parties as they work to complete the process of devolution through the devolution of policing and justice powers.
"It remains our shared view that the full implementation of all aspects of the St Andrews Agreement is building the community confidence necessary to enable the transfer of these powers to take place.
However this angered Dr Paisley and other senior DUP figures, with deputy leader Peter Robinson insisting they had not agreed to the British government's target date of May or any other deadline.
Dr Paisley also said the move could not take place without the First Minister and the Assembly's consent.
"As First Minister I have absolutely no intention of bringing such a proposal to the Assembly as the necessary conditions do not exist," Dr Paisley added.
Mr Robinson said devolution of policing and justice could not take place while the IRA Army Council remained in existence.
But Sinn Féin policing spokesman Alex Maskey said the call was a distraction and the DUP was not reflecting the feeling on the ground.
"There are more important issues which affect us on a day-to-day basis which are about the delivery of good policing, about the community having a say as to how that is done," Mr Maskey said.
"We believe that people are very motivated to see this happening, there are many in the local community who do want to see these matters dealt with by local representatives."