PROSPECTS OF unity between the DUP and Ulster Unionists have been damaged further by a bitter dispute between them in Fermanagh in which Stormont Ministers are now involved.
The DUP strongly criticised a decision by the Ulster Unionists in the county to force the calling of a council byelection caused by the death of the father of DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds last month.
Arlene Foster, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, said the UUP decision smacked of "absolute madness".
It casts yet more doubt on the prospects for unionist unity called for by Peter Robinson in his first comments as DUP leader.
Branding the UUP decision as "most foolish and unnecessary", Ms Foster said it would "almost certainly hand another seat to Sinn Féin in Fermanagh unless all unionists unite behind a DUP candidate on election day".
"The council election result in 2005 shows clearly that the DUP is the main unionist party in this area."
She called on Tom Elliott, the Ulster Unionist leader and Assembly member in the constituency, to take action against those backing the move to hold a byelection.
"After all, this decision could cost unionism a seat. I am amazed that they [the UUP] saw fit to facilitate a co-option when I stepped down and even supported a Sinn Féin co-option, yet [they] could not support a co-option to fill the seat vacated by the late Joe Dodds," she said.
"This is an unbelievable decision that simply defies logic.
"This move, coming on the back of the Ulster Unionist Party supporting a Sinn Féin councillor for lord mayor in Belfast, would cause one to wonder whether the UUP wants to see unionists or republicans succeed in Northern Ireland."
Six weeks ago, in his first comments as DUP leader, Peter Robinson said of the Ulster Unionists: "There is much that we should be co-operating on, working together to advance the cause of unionism to ensure we can maximise the unionist vote, that we can maximise the return that we get.
"If, in the future, that does bring us so close together that we can have one organisation, so be it."
However, his call was immediately rebuffed by UUP leader Sir Reg Empey as "a stunt".
To applause, Sir Reg told his party's agm in Belfast he believed Mr Robinson's comments were insincere.
He accused the DUP of splitting unionism through its venomous attacks on the party in the aftermath of the Belfast Agreement.