Northern Ireland's new acting First Minister says Sinn Féin's alleged links to the IRA are "a cancer at the heart of government".
Arlene Foster says the links between politicians and paramilitaries are a matter that "must be dealt with" in any new crisis talks.
The comments came as Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness tried to play down the crisis - saying the parties had up to six weeks to overcome their problems.
Those remarks appeared to have eased the sense of crisis engulfing the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, which had moved closer to collapse after the resignation of most of the DUP's ministers yesterday.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports.
Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald has since described Foster's remarks as "rubbish" and "sensationalist fiction":
