NATIONLISTS have warned that they will not countenance direct rule from London if the DUP continues to veto the restoration of the Stromont institutions.
As the deadline for reinstating the executive draws closer, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has insisted Dublin will have a "consultative" role in the running of Northern Ireland should efforts to restore devolution fail.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald welcomed the Fianna Fáil leader's remarks as she urged the two governments to "prepare for an arrangement of joint authority".
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said people would be concerned by the prospect of direct rule, which he said would be "undemocratic". Alliance MLA Patrick Brown said there needed to be a conversation about what joint authority would entail.
However, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said joint authority would "not be consistent" with the Good Friday Agreement, while his Ulster Unionist counterpart Doug Beattie said any formal role for Dublin in the north's administration would "clearly be a massive change in our constitutional status".
Stormont's five main parties yesterday held talks with Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris ahead of the midnight deadline for restoring the executive. He has said he will call an election in line with legislation if the deadline is not met.
Although the assembly is recalled today to discuss the cost of living crisis, there seems little prospect of a breakthrough in the impasse caused by the DUP's refusal to nominate a deputy first minister.
After speaking to the secretary of state by phone, Sir Jeffrey said his party would go into a fresh election "seeking to renew our mandate that the protocol must be replaced with arrangements that can secure the support of unionists as well as nationalists".
But nationalists appear increasingly focused on what arrangements will be put in place should the Stormont deadlock continue.
The taoiseach told the Dáil yesterday that in the event of no restoration of the institutions the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference "kicks in" and that provisions within the Good Friday Agreement ensured "close consultation with the Irish government in terms of matters pertaining to Northern Ireland".
Reiterating his desire to see power-sharing restored, Mr Martin said his government would "exhaust every possibility within that framework if there is a sustained period of absence of the executive or the assembly".
Ms McDonald welcomed the taoiseach's commitment, urging her Fianna Fáil counterpart to "articulate strongly" his thinking when speaking last night with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
However, she said her party's priority was the restoration of the institutions.
"Sinn Féin stands ready to form a government and to make politics work for everyone," she said.
Meanwhile, a poll published today by Queen's University shows majority support for the Northern Ireland Protocol.
