A new form of power-sharing will have to be set up in the North before Democratic Unionists enter into a government with Sinn Féin, the Rev Ian Paisley has said.
Rev Ian Paisley
Speaking ahead of the party's annual conference in Belfast tomorrow, the DUP leader claimed the previous model of power-sharing under the Belfast Agreement was "incapable of withstanding crises".
Dr Paisley said: "It would have to be a proper democratic system. We must have a foundation that cannot crumble and we must have an opportunity to build something that holds.
He said: "If there is an act of treachery, then under the Belfast Agreement the government falls. But we should have a government that stays like a rock - the waves may come and go but it's still there."
He continued: "I think we have to get back to proper democracy - a voluntary coalition or even a type of government that might be balanced more on a committee system as long as it is democratic and as long as the elected representatives of the highest strata have the final say."
Both governments will convene talks on Monday aimed at restoring the power-sharing institutions.
But democratic unionists have dampened prospects of an early breakthrough in the political impasse by insisting that an accommodation with Sinn Féin - in the short term - was not on the cards.
The DUP this week published a 16-page document, entitled Facing Reality, which proposed a phased restoration of the institutions, with the appointment of ministers deferred until unionists are satisfied that all alleged IRA criminality has ceased.
Mr Paisley also claimed the Ulster Unionist Party has lost pole position in unionism for good. He said he did not believe his rivals would ever recover from being reduced to one MP.
He accused the UUP of never being able to relate to working-class Protestants.
Additional reporting PA