LISTEN:Growing calls for a British Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

By Q Radio News & PA

There are growing calls for a British Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

Powersharing talks collapsed on Wednesday with Sinn Fein and the DUP failing to reach an agreement over the Irish Language.

The Republican Party's President says a deal on the table last week included both an Irish Language Act and an Ulster Scots Act.

Now, Mary Lou McDonald wants Westminster and Dublin to step in together.

DUP Leader, Arlene Foster says there's not joint sovereignty over Northern Ireland so it's for the Prime Minister alone to govern.

Sinn Fein has outlined details of a draft deal to restore Stormont powersharing which it insists was struck with the Democratic Unionists before they pulled the plug on negotiations.

Party president Mary Lou McDonald accused the DUP of effectively getting cold feet and welching on an agreement that would have ended the impasse that has left Northern Ireland without a functioning government for 13 months.

"We understood above all else that we had a deal, we understood we had landed on a respectful, workable accommodation," she said.

But the DUP has dismissed the claims as "propaganda", with party leader Arlene Foster also rejecting suggestions she was over-ruled when she presented the mooted accord to colleagues, branding the theory as "rubbish".

Mrs Foster also denied Sinn Fein claims that a free-standing Irish Language Act was part of any draft deal.

The latest acrimonious exchanges came as the Prime Minister insisted the basis of an agreement still existed. Theresa May expressed disappointment at the turn of events in phone calls to the party leaders on Thursday evening.

Insisting the Act was present in the text, Mrs McDonald accused some critics of deliberately misrepresenting its contents to whip up fears among unionists, by claiming Irish would be forced upon people.

"I say shame on you for so deliberately misrepresenting a good measure, an inclusive measure in a way that would cause such levels of concern or even distress among our unionist citizens," she said.

While she declined to publish the full text, Mrs McDonald outlined details verbally at Stormont on Thursday.

She said there was a need to dispel "mistruths and inaccuracies" about what it contained.

The newly elected party president said the ill-fated "draft agreement" was struck late last week.