Gerry Adams announced today that Martin McGuinness wants to hold a crisis meeting with Peter Robinson.

Speaking to the press in Dublin, he said a meeting between McGuinness and Robinson would be “a critical and defining engagement.”

Last night, McGuinness had spoken with representatives of the British and Irish governments, Adams said. “But let me say this,” he continued. “The governments are not referees in this. The governments are guarantors with responsibilities and obligations.

The governments are also in default of outstanding issues, particularly relating to the Irish language and North-South structures, Adams suggested.

On Friday, Sinn Fein announced that talks with the DUP were at an end, to the apparent surprise of Peter Robinson. Negotiations have stalled around the issues of policing and the Orange Order parades.

Adams criticized media coverage of events.“This is not about Sinn Fein hyping things up. This not a game of poker,” he said. “If the institutions are not working, if they’re not delivering, then they become pointless and unsustainable. What we’re about is about fixing the problems.”

He added: “If that is not possible, then no self-respecting  public representative or political party would want to be part of what would be nothing less than a charade.”