NI Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said the Ulster Unionists have "three days to sort themselves out" after leader Sir Reg Empey declared the party could not support the devolution of policing and justice.

As the Stormont assembly prepares to vote on the Hillsborough agreement, Mr McGuinness said Sir Reg Empey was being "unreasonable".

Speaking at Sinn Fein's Ard Fheis in Dublin, Mr McGuinness warned: "The Ulster Unionists have three days to sort themselves out".

"They can do the right thing and join with the rest of us in building a new and better future, or they can continue to pursue a negative, rejectionist agenda which is out of step, I believe, with the majority of Unionist opinion and the vast majority of citizens who live on this island."

On Friday Sir Reg said the Hillsborough deal was not acceptable in its current form.

He said the party was not in a position to back the deal to transfer policing and justice powers from London to Belfast.

The party will take a final decision on Monday night, he added.

The UUP was the only party to boycott the unveiling of the Hillsborough Agreement last month.

Sir Reg repeatedly complained that he had been kept in the dark during the marathon talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein.

He has also been highly critical of what he calls the "dysfunctional nature of the executive".

Last month, he said his party would not sign up to the deal unless a "consensus" was found to solve the education debate.

"If Reg Empey is really saying he's threatening the political institutions because Caitriona Ruane won't re-introduce the 11-Plus, what can be more dysfunctional than this?" Mr McGuinness asked today.

Ms Ruane told the party's executive meeting she won't be changing her policy.

Policing and justice powers will be devolved on 12 April, if a resolution jointly tabled by the First and Deputy First Ministers gets cross-community support in an Assembly vote on 9 March.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have enough MLAs in the Assembly to secure the required cross-community vote.

But last month the DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said devolution was unlikely to go ahead without the backing of the UUP.

The DUP's executive will meet on Monday to assess whether there is enough confidence within the community to go ahead with the deal.

Meanwhile, Mr McGuinness insisted Sinn Fein was ready to take the reins of power in the Irish Republic.

But he ruled out any partnership with senior Opposition party Fine Gael.

"Wake up and look north," he said.

"We are in government, we are taking the hard decisions and we are doing a good job to boot."