The Ulster Unionist Party leader has proposed a diluted form of devolution that would loosely follow the US model in the absence of agreement to fully restore the power-sharing Northern Executive.
Sir Reg Empey said a properly functioning Executive and Assembly could not be reinstated in the immediate future because republicans had damaged political trust.
Under the UUP proposals the suspended 108-member Assembly would be re-established, but instead of an Executive running the Northern Ireland departments this function would continue to be carried out by Northern Secretary Peter Hain and his direct rule ministers.
However, the UUP is calling for Assembly members to have a "meaningful statutory role" in the governance of Northern Ireland. This would mean Assembly members exercising legislative and financial powers as before but with Mr Hain and his ministers operating the departments.
"This is a separation-of-powers model, not unlike the relationship between the president of the United States and his cabinet and the American congress," according to the UUP in its paper, A Legislative and Financial Model for Stormont, published yesterday.
Direct rule ministers would be answerable to Westminster but, instead of seeking legislation and departmental budgets from London, they would send their proposals to the Assembly to be accepted or rejected.
This system would end in April 2007 when the next Assembly elections are due. Whether these elections take place or not hinges on whether there is the guarantee that a newly elected Assembly could sit, as Mr Hain has made clear.
Sir Reg said the UUP proposals were designed "to end the drift that some parties are quite happy to facilitate" and to invest a degree of accountability in elected politicians.
"The Ulster Unionist Party is not interested in the Assembly resuming as a talking shop, the favoured route of some parties," he said.
"However, we cannot underestimate the damage republicans have done to the ability of the pro-Union community to tolerate an all-inclusive Executive. It is immense and deep-seated. The current stream of concessions to republicans is reinforcing this view," he added.
"This fact has led us to consider what steps the government could now take to break the deadlock, see the ending of suspension and provide the public and the taxpayer with a proper service and value for money for a time-limited period that falls short of full-blown devolution," he said.
"Republicans can harp on about full implementation but, following their actions, this cannot happen in the immediate future until efforts are made to restore sufficient levels of trust," the UUP leader added.
Sinn Féin has insisted it will not tolerate any proposals, whether from the UUP or DUP, that fall short of power-sharing as set out in the Belfast Agreement.
