His rebuttal came after Alliance leader David Ford, who accused Mr Paisley of "breathtaking arrogance", said he knew he was risking abuse in putting a follow-up question on the performance of the Executive.

But the DUP leader insisted: "I have never abused the honourable member because if I had he would not be sitting in his place today" - and undertook not to abuse Mr Ford in future.

But, saying he was speaking with a feeling of truthfulness in his heart, Mr Paisley urged the Alliance leader to use his "vast talents" to help the Assembly to succeed.

The exchange followed Mr Ford's request for an explanation of Executive consensus given the recent rows.

This was viewed as a reference to Health Committee chair Iris Robinson's attack on Health Minister Michael McGimpsey over budgets and the rebuke of Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie by Finance Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness on the decision to axe funding for a UDA-linked conflict transformation initiative.

Mr Paisley revealed that Ministers on the Executive have failed to reach total agreement on issues three times up until the end of October.

Responding to a question from Ulster Unionist Assembly group deputy leader Danny Kennedy on the procedures to protect Ministers from smaller parties represented on the Executive, Mr Paisley said there would be specific circumstances, "hopefully rare", when the Executive would not reach a consensus.

"It is supposed to be a coalition but sometimes when you look at it you do not see much coalescing of certain members - the reason being they are no longer in power and they cannot dictate anymore to the representatives of the main people of this province," Mr Paisley said.

"Between our first meeting on May 10 and the one on October 25, the Executive considered 105 items of business. There have only been three occasions, only three, when full consensus has not been obtained.

"That is a record and it is certainly a record for Northern Ireland. I think this speaks for itself and instead of denigrating this Assembly, the Honourable Member would be far better paying tribute to it and working a bit harder to see that end is successful."