The leader of the DUP has insisted that the "debris" of the Northern Ireland Protocol must be "cleared away" if Stormont's powersharing institutions are to return.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was speaking ahead of a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Monday.
Mr Martin is meeting local parties in Belfast as a deadline to restore Stormont and avoid fresh Assembly elections rapidly approaches.
Read more: No powersharing for DUP while Irish Sea border remains
The DUP is blocking the functioning of the powersharing institutions in Belfast as part of its protest against the Protocol that has created barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Political opponents have heavily criticised the DUP boycott, insisting it is hampering efforts to support families struggling amid the cost-of-living crisis.
The party says the economic border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is exacerbating the inflation crisis and underlines the need for action.
Speaking ahead of his meeting with the Taoiseach, Sir Jeffrey said: “We must lay solid foundations if we are to move forward. We need to clear away the debris of the Protocol years. We need to restore cross-community consensus.
“No unionist MLAs support the Protocol. Therefore, it must be replaced by arrangements that unionists can support. This is essential if the political institutions are to function and succeed.
“Brussels must loosen the guide ropes for their negotiating team so a proper renegotiation can take place. The persistent refusal to change their negotiating mandate has been an impediment over the last two years to securing an outcome that unionists can support.”
He added: “The Protocol continues to bedevil us, with businesses and consumers reporting further problems each week. A 25% tariff on steel, driving up transport costs by almost 30% and uncertainty over medicine and veterinary supplies.
“The checks, however, on the Irish Sea border are but a symptom of the problem. They are the product of Northern Ireland being subject to a different set of laws imposed upon us by a foreign entity without any say or vote by any locally elected representative.
“In the future, as Great Britain moves in a different direction on aid or taxation, Northern Ireland will face further new barriers because we are tied to a different set of laws.
“If we can secure a better way forward, then there is a great prize of stable devolved government but without decisive action in Dublin and Brussels then the Protocol will continue to erode the foundations of Stormont.
“Devolution requires the support of unionists as well as nationalists if it is to function and succeed.”
The UK Government has vowed to secure changes to the Protocol, either by way of a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation that would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.
Relations between the UK and EU appear to have improved since Liz Truss became Prime Minister and London and Brussels have been talking up the potential for a deal through fresh negotiations.
Current legislation says that unless Stormont is restored by October 28, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has to call fresh Assembly elections, something he has said he is prepared to do.
Last week, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was in Belfast where he held meetings with Sinn Fein, the Alliance Party, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP.
Mr Coveney said that a deal between the UK and EU before October 28 is "not realistic".
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