While the IMC is due to report next month on the state of the IRA, and in particular the IRA Army Council, it is also believed the DUP will ask it to look at Sinn Fein's position too – if republicans continue to block meetings of the Stormont Executive.

When it was established, the watchdog was given powers to monitor political parties as well as paramilitaries.

Mr Robinson has warned of consequences if Sinn Fein ministers do not fulfil their legal obligation to provide good governance of the country.

The DUP believes the IMC can provide an independent assessment on Gerry Adams' party if the current political talks do not find a way forward for devolution.

Meanwhile, the DUP has reacted angrily to UUP criticisms it has failed to deliver stable government – the DUP instead claims to have built stronger foundations at Stormont than David Trimble did.

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson rounded on Sir Reg Empey after the Ulster Unionist leader said DUP claims that it was the only party able to produce a peace deal that stuck had been proven rubbish amid the current uncertainty over power-sharing.

First Minister Peter Robinson's admission this week that the Assembly is not secure – amid the fall-out with Sinn Fein over policing and justice powers and other issues – was "an extraordinary statement" from a party which had consistently "boasted" of stability, said Sir Reg.

But Mr Wilson said the UUP leader had a short memory given that he had served in leadership with Mr Trimble.

"Instead of attacking the DUP, one would have thought the leader of the Ulster Unionists would have been seeking to apply pressure on republicans," he said.

"People well recall what things were like when Reg Empey and his mentor David Trimble led unionism and republican compliance in the political process was bought with craven capitulation at every turn from the UUP.

"Which party was it that established the Patten Commission? Which party signed up to release the terrorists from prison? Which party established free-standing, unaccountable north-south institutions and which party failed to even ask republicans to support the policing structures and courts system of Northern Ireland? The answer to all of these questions is the Trimble/Empey-led UUP."

Noting that Sir Reg was the UUP's chief negotiator at the time of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Wilson continued that it was ironic that he was lecturing about government stability when his best efforts "delivered nothing but humiliation and defeat for our community".

As to the current political situation, he said the DUP position on the devolution of policing and justice powers remains entirely unchanged – "which is more than can be said about the UUP who had agreed to devolve these powers by 2005 at a time when there was no acceptance of the police or the rule of law on the part of republicans", he added.