Sinn Féin's finance minister has said the party has no intention of withdrawing from the Northern Ireland Executive. John O'Dowd made the comment on Tuesday, days after senior party figures had indicated the party might leave the power-sharing institutions because of what it described as DUP obstruction.

The DUP has blocked several Sinn Féin policies, including a workers' rights bill, and has offered a compromise deal. Sinn Féin has linked the downgrade of the Casement Park GAA stadium in Belfast to the DUP sports minister.

Sinn Féin cannot proceed with the A5 dual carriageway because it has not adjusted climate change targets, a move unionist parties have said they would support. The party has also been unable to expand university places in Derry because it has not agreed to raise student tuition fees. On the budget, Sinn Féin says more funding from London is required, and unionist Executive members have not opposed that position.

In 2017, when Sinn Féin last left the Executive, then Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney said direct rule by the British government alone was not an option. British governments later interpreted that as meaning Northern Ireland could not be governed solely by London when devolution collapsed.

The recent tensions have prompted renewed calls for reform of power-sharing so that a party walk-out does not bring down the institutions. The Belfast Agreement provides for a process of reform overseen by both governments. In 2024, after the DUP ended a two-year walk-out, then taoiseach Leo Varadkar and tánaiste Micheál Martin separately said they would support abolishing the large party veto, but only through cross-community consensus. The DUP said the time was not right for that change.