The UUP has criticised the Irish and British governments for taking the high ground in the fight against international terrorism while failing to act against Sinn FΘin over the IRA's failure to dispose of weapons.
Senior UUP representatives took the unusual step of visiting Dublin yesterday to tell politicians of their frustration with the lack of progress on the decommissioning of paramilitary arms.
At separate meetings with deputies and senators from Fianna Fβil, Fine Gael and Labour in Leinster House, they said their move to expel Sinn FΘin from government in fewer than three weeks was born of three-and-a-half years of failure to achieve any movement on weapons.
The party's Minister for Arts, Culture and Leisure in the Executive, Mr Michael McGimpsey, told journalists he had no doubt that the Irish and British governments knew where the weapons dumps already inspected by the independent inspectors were located.
The three UUP ministers are likely to resign from the Executive, if, as expected, the motion to exclude Sinn FΘin fails.