Talks aimed at restoring Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government have broken down after Sinn Féin said that the party would not be nominating Michelle O’Neill, its leader in Northern Ireland, for the post of deputy first minister.

In a statement O’Neill said: “Today we have come to the end of the road.” She was speaking after Sinn Féin said the deadline for a deal on Monday that would secure a new cross-community coalition in Belfast could not be reached.

One option for the British and Irish governments who are overseeing the talks would be to hold fresh elections just weeks after the previous electoral contest in March. Another would be to impose direct rule on the region from Westminster.

Sinn Féin’s president, Gerry Adams, said the issues of how to deal with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles and a unionist refusal to support an Irish Language Act had been stumbling blocks in the current negotiations.

“The DUP’s approach thus far has been to engage in a minimalist way on all of the key issues, including legacy issues, an Irish Language Act, a Bill of Rights, and marriage equality,” Adams said.

He added: “They have been reinforced in this by the British government’s stance. This is unacceptable and a matter of grave concern.”



But he appeared to hold out some hope that the issues could be resolved if there were further negotiations.



On the refusal to nominate Michelle O’Neill as deputy first minister, Adams added: “That is today … We do believe that we will have the conditions in the time ahead because we want to be in the institutions.”



The Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, said in a statement that the UK government’s priority remained to keep the Stormont government intact. He said: “I am determined to see a functioning executive in place at Stormont. I have spoken to the prime minister this afternoon and this remains the UK government’s continuing priority.

“This is the necessary first step to addressing the issues of greatest public concern – health, education and other public services in Northern Ireland. Even at this stage I urge political parties to agree to work to form an executive and provide people here with the strong and stable devolved government that they want.”

The cross-community Alliance party leader, Naomi Long, said a second election within weeks would be a “vanity project”. Some unionists have claimed Sinn Féin may be tempted to go for a second snap poll to build on the goodwill toward the republican party following the funeral of Martin McGuinness last week.

McGuinness’ last public political act was to resign as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland in January. He did so in protest at the refusal by the first minister and Democratic Unionist leader, Arlene Foster, to stand aside temporarily from her post while a public inquiry was held into a botched green energy scheme.



The renewal heating initiative, which the DUP championed, ended up costing the public purse an estimated half a billion pounds. After McGuinness resigned over the controversy under the rules of power sharing, the cross-community government in Belfast collapsed, prompting elections to a new assembly, which it appears is unlikely at this stage to elect a new regional government.



Responding to the imminent collapse of the talks, the Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott said: “Unless there is a massive U-turn in terms of attitude from the two largest parties, then Northern Ireland could be in for a period of prolonged drift.”



The leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour party, Colum Eastwood, said the public were likely to be angry about being plunged into another political crisis. He called on Brokenshire to create more “space” to reconvene a fresh round of talks.



Eastwood said: “There was, and remains, a mandate for creative compromise to form a government. But those who came to the ballot box earlier this month will now be very angry and they are right to be. Their frustration at the failure here cannot be underestimated and it cannot be easily assuaged through more elections.

He added: “The secretary of state must immediately create space for all parties to refresh their outlook on the challenges we face and reach a positive accommodation that allows a restoration of power sharing.”

The Irish foreign minister, Charlie Flanagan, said it was more important than ever that power-sharing government be restored given that Theresa May will trigger article 50 next week and start the Brexit process.



He said it was a “bitter disappointment” that the deadline for Monday in terms of a power-sharing deal would not be reached.



Flanagan said: “It is the strong wish of the Irish government to see power-sharing re-established so that the interests of the people in Northern Ireland are best protected and advanced.

“I therefore urge the parties to avail of the remaining time available to re-engage on the few outstanding issues that divide them.”