Michelle O'Neill says that the DUP's refusal to return to Stormont is down to last year's election triumph for Sinn Fein

The talks were taking place ahead of the largest public sector strike in Northern Ireland’s history on Thursday, when workers in 15 trade unions will take part in mass industrial action across health, education and the civil service.

Ms O’Neill said on Monday that keeping devolution in limbo is “increasingly untenable”.

“I think the further we get away from the Windsor Framework, which was completed last year, I think it’s increasingly untenable that the DUP can hide behind that argument that this is about Brexit and the (Northern Ireland) Protocol,” she said.

“I think many people, reasonable minds, would turn their heads to ‘is this about that, or is this about the election result of May last year?’”

In those council elections, Sinn Fein demonstrated its ongoing dominance of NI politics, taking 144 seats, while the DUP took 122.

That came on top of 2022’s Assembly election in which Sinn Fein also outperformed the DUP in the number of MLAs elected.

She called on the DUP to end the stalemate in the “small window” before what the government says is Thursday’s deadline.

Meanwhile Alliance leader Naomi Long warned that patience with Northern Ireland in London is “running out”.

Last week the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Sir Robert Buckland said that “old-style direct rule of the past” from London was off the table if devolved government could not be resurrected – implying that Dublin will have a say in running Northern Ireland.

Ms Long said: “I think people need to listen very carefully to what he said.

“Patience with Northern Ireland and with the DUP in particular at Westminster has all but expired, and I think the time has now come for us to take control of our own situation, start to make the difficult choices that will be required of all of us in government and start to do it now for the sake of the people that we represent.”

Meanwhile SDLP leader Colum Eastwood insisted that the UK government could intervene to provide a pay deal for strikers if it wanted to, saying: “The British government could bring in a law tomorrow to get these people paid.”