The afternoon debate was on the interim report presented by the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon. It did not make specific recommendations on the number of ministries in the new administration or how these should be allocated to parties.
The deputy leader of the DUP, Mr Peter Robinson, said it was "regrettable" that the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister had "failed in their first task".
He said Mr Trimble was "not prepared to grasp the nettle" of Sinn Fein representation in the executive. Mr Robinson said his party would move to have people excluded from the executive if Mr Trimble failed to do so.
The leader of the Alliance Party, Mr Sean Neeson, said his party was committed to the establishment of 10 departments in the administration, and he was "concerned" at the motivation of those who wanted only six or seven.
The SDLP, Sinn Fein, the Women's Coalition and the Progressive Unionist Party are also in favour of 10 ministries, the maximum allowed for in the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Robert McCartney, the leader of the UK Unionist Party, said he believed there was nothing in the agreement to prevent Sinn Fein from taking up seats in the executive without prior decommissioning by the IRA.
There had been much talk about democracy by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. "We should start off by looking at the democratic foundations upon which structures will be built. And those democratic structures cannot conceivably, in a democracy, include those who are in any sense wedded to the principle that violence can in any circumstances be justified in the pursuit of political objectives," he said.