The British government was today being urged to kickstart a round of talks with the Northern Ireland parties in a bid to revive the peace process.
Junior Northern Ireland Office Minister Mr Des Browne was holding the government's first face-to-face meeting with Sinn Féin since the release of its controversial policing plans.
Yesterday the party's national chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin rounded on the NIO for "sitting on its hands" while the political institutions remained in crisis.
But he hoped today's meeting would mark the beginning of an intensive period of dialogue to resolve the problems in the peace process.
Northern Ireland's politicians have until September 23th to resolve their differences - the date when the Assembly must reconvene to vote for new First and Deputy First Ministers.
The political institutions were suspended by Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid for a day on August 10th when the Assembly was originally expected to vote.
The move bought the parties another six weeks to resolve their problems but was followed by the IRA's withdrawal of its disarmament offer to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
Since suspension, confidence in the peace process has been undermined by the arrests of three IRA suspects in Colombia on suspicion of training Marxist FARC rebels in the use of firearms and explosives.
It has also been rocked by a spate of loyalist bomb attacks, the shooting dead of two young men by the Red Hand Defenders and a question mark over the Ulster Defence Association's ceasefire.
Republicans have also criticised the government for claiming its proposals on policing are "non-negotiable".
PA