Mr Robinson said he was "depressed" at the level of negative political reaction to the initial proposals to create a "shared future" in Northern Ireland.

The preliminary strategy outlined last week includes bringing down the North’s 60 “peace walls” by 2023 and attempts to develop cross-community relationships among disaffected young people.

The Ulster Unionists, Alliance and the SDLP in particular have focused on what they viewed as a lack of ambition in the plans.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt provided the opportunity for Mr Robinson to go on the attack in the Assembly yesterday when he asked the First Minister did he agree with Sinn Féin Minister John O'Dowd who replied "so what?" when asked about a lack of DUP-Sinn Féin consultation with other parties about the proposals.

“I am depressed listening to the tribe of Jeremiahs that infest the political process and whose first thought is to attack any genuine attempt that is made to bring forward positive proposals,” said Mr Robinson.

“I am fed up to the back teeth with the foot-dragging, the whinging, the stalling – sometimes you might even say the attempt to politically posture on critical issues such as this – the begrudging and the bellyaching that you hear.”