An early recall of the Assembly to attack the failure of the Executive to meet for almost three months has been ruled out, it emerged today.

Ulster Unionist MLAs rejected overtures from the SDLP for an emergency Assembly session before its first scheduled meeting in September.

UU members would have been able to make up the 30 signatures required by SDLP leader Mark Durkan to force the special debate.

But a meeting of the UU Assembly group which discussed the SDLP initiative yesterday decided against supporting the strategy.

Chief whip David McNarry, who chaired the discussion, refused to reveal the outcome of the private meeting but confirmed he and deputy UU Assembly leader Danny Kennedy were meeting senior SDLP members.

A senior UU source said it was felt a recall of the Assembly at this stage would be seen as a ‘meaningless gesture’.

“There is also a practical issue in that the actual debating chamber is not available because of refurbishment work and we would have had to meet probably in the Great Hall.”

And another UU member said both First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will face questions about the lack of Executive meetings since June when the Assembly resumes.

Mr Robinson has presided over only one full Executive since taking the position of First Minister and almost three months will have elapsed before the next planned meeting on September 18.

Sinn Fein has said there is no point in further meetings until a number of issues, including the devolution of policing and justice and the national stadium plans for the Maze, have been addressed.

SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell said government departments are operating on emergency funding because of the failure to agree Executive meetings.

“We have a credit crunch, the economy is slowing down, people are being laid off and we are heading rapidly for a deep fuel poverty crisis as soon as the cold weather comes back, but where is (the Executive)? Nowhere. From June to September, the First Minister is either unable or afraid to call the ministers together in one room,” the south Belfast MP said.

“Last week we had the worst floods in human memory, but there was no emergency Executive meeting. Instead, we had individual ministers on the phone doing little deals to cover each other’s back, ringing the Finance Minister to okay grants. If Sinn Fein and the DUP can get together to hand out grants, why can’t they get together to hold proper Executive meetings?

“The floods showed why we need joined-up government and all departments working together to solve problems. People with water and sewage coming in their door, if they could get through on the phone at all, were being questioned about where the water was coming from and which department or agency it belonged to. A First Minister who can’t even call a meeting has suffered a serious loss of authority.”