Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's remarks on the Irish Government's plan to look at alternatives if Stormont is not brought back in the autumn, were "unhelpful".
During his visit to Belfast last week, Mr Varadkar said that if power-sharing is not restored "we have to start having conversations about alternatives, about plan B".
Outside Stormont Castle today, Mr Donaldson said the Taoiseach's "intervention was unhelpful".
"We're not planning for failure. We want to get this right. And we'll continue in our engagement with the government to do so," he said.
"Frankly, these are matters for the government of the United Kingdom. They are matters for the internal affairs of the United Kingdom, and therefore when the Irish Government talk about the need to to prepare for a Plan B, I think they should focus on getting plan A sorted out instead of talking about failure."
Mr Donaldson added that there is still some way to travel in the discussions with the UK government in relation to the restoration of Stormont.
The party leaders met with head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Jayne Brady, at Stormont Castle this morning.
"We've had a good discussion today around the kind of issues we'll need to be taking to the Treasury. We've also been talking about the sort of key elements that might form part of our programme going forward for any incoming executive," Mr Donaldson told media after the meeting.
The British government intends to direct a series of public consultations so people in Northern Ireland can give their views on proposed revenue-raising proposals for public services.
The move comes after a number of parties criticised proposals which Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered civil servants to compile as potential options to ease pressure on finances.
Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey said the measures, reported to include increasing the price of school dinners and fares for public transport, are a tactic by the government to put pressure on the DUP to return to power-sharing.
Mr Heaton-Harris has argued that additional revenue-raising is required to balance the books in Northern Ireland, where departments are facing significant budget pressures.
But Ms Hargey said that Northern Ireland instead needs to examine a "fiscal floor" financial framework, similar to what has been negotiated in Wales.
"This is a punitive and sinister approach by the British secretary of state to create anxiety within the public and put pressure on the DUP," she said.
"Part of the discussion that we did have around our finances is looking at a fiscal floor that is in Wales, for example, that was negotiated previously.
"Some of the evidence that we had presented to us this morning is that we are way below the fiscal floor, if there was one introduced here in terms of public financing.
"When you measure that against the need, we have a higher need yet we are getting a lower sum of money, these are part of the things that we need to correct."
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the Barnett formula, which largely decides Stormont’s budget allocations from the UK Treasury, needs to be readjusted to provide more funding.
"In terms of the matters about the secretary of state’s request for additional fiscal measures in Northern Ireland, let’s be clear, that came from the secretary of state, not from the Northern Ireland parties," he said.
"We have no part in that. We have made clear to the secretary of state that he should leave these things to an incoming executive.
"We will, of course, look at our ability to fund our public services in Northern Ireland, but as we’ve been saying consistently, the problem is not the need to find new fiscal measures to punish and tax the people of Northern Ireland.
"The need is for the government to restore our funding formula to meet the needs of the people of Northern Ireland. It isn’t meeting that need."
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said Northern Ireland is in an "unprecedented position" in terms of its public finances.
"We cannot cut our way out of this crisis, nor can we reform our way out of this crisis," she said.
"Asking the public to pay more for less when it comes to public services is not a solution."
Ulster Unionist Party MLA Mike Nesbitt added: "Those revenue-raising proposals belong to the secretary of state, not to any of the parties.
"I have seen a list of 40-plus revenue-raising areas, I would like to see the detail behind them."
