Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd says "seven years or eight years ago when the Executive was reformed and the agreements were in place, no-one would have guessed what would have brought this Assembly or Executive to the brink would have been an issue like welfare".

He says there is nothing in statute imposing a deadline to resolve the issue today.

Mr Farry says Sinn Fein and the SDLP have acted "anything but honourably" in relation to Stormont House Agreement, adding "the fact is the parties have welched" on the deal.

He says the SDLP was trying to "have it both ways" by submitting amendments after they had signed up to an agreement.

MLAs are debating the final stage of the controversial Welfare Reform Bill.

The bill was first debated at Stormont in 2012, but the parties could not agree to implement the proposals.

The Executive parties met Secretary of State Theresa Villiers in December 2014 and agreed a deal that included a package mitigation measures, which became the Stormont House Agreement.

However, Sinn Fein withdrew its support for the bill in March.

Sinn Fein and the SDLP signed a petition of concern ahead of today's debate, meaning the legislation will not get the necessary cross-community support.

Green Party leader Steven Agnew has also signed the petition.

Last week, First Minister Peter Robinson warned that the Assembly could not survive the scenario that would unfold if the Welfare Reform Bill was not approved.

Stephen Farry of Alliance says "people need to be very clear about what they are doing tonight".

The employment and learning minister says some MLAs would rather see people suffer than have their fingerprints on the bill.

SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell says his party regarded the Stormont House Agreement "neither as comprehensive, nor as decisive, nor as complete as we would have wished".

"There were big gaps that we needed to deal with," he says, complaining that amendments his party brought at earlier stages of the bill were dismissed by a petition of concern.

Mr McDonnell says his party is willing to engage in genuine negotiation.

"This is a critical day," says Ulster Unionist Danny Kennedy, "a proper political and financial crisis".

Regional Development Minister, Mr Kennedy criticises the "class warriors" he predicts will walk thought the "no" lobby at the end of the debate.

Stewart Dickson of Alliance says Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Greens are delivering "full-blooded, red, white and blue Tory cuts".

He says the parties opposed to the bill have "just gone and chucked out all the concessions" won from the Westminster government.

Ulster Unionist Ross Hussey says Sinn Fein "talk about power sharing but they don't want to share power".

He accuses the party of reneging on the Stormont House Agreement.

Mr Hussey says there are four extra votes for the Conservatives at Westminster because Sinn Fein do not take their seats.

Mr Nesbitt talks about mental health issues and how "our higher rates are directly causally linked to the Troubles".

He says MLAs are about to break their word to people with mental health problems.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt says that if Charles Dickens were alive he would find the Assembly "ripe material for his latest novel".

"What strange, and challenging, and disappointing times they are," he says.

Mr Attwood refers to claims by a junior Treasury minister that the chancellor is meeting Whitehall departments over possible short-term adjustments that he can announce in the emergency budget in July.

If there are no such discussions happening with the Northern Ireland Executive, he asks, "what does it say about London's high-handedness?"

Mr Atwwod asks if this is "not a breach of the devolved arrangements - that 42 days out from an emergency budget, London is having conversations with London departments, but it appears that it is silent when it comes to conversations with the Northern Ireland government or Scottish or Welsh governments?"

The SDLP MLA welcomes minister Mervyn Storey's proposal for independent advice for those claiming universal credit.

He says he would prefer that it were codified in primary legislation, or regulation as "a statutory right to independent advice is always a position of strength, because it guarantees it in primary law".

Mr Attwood cites a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that warns unprotected UK government departments, including Justice and the Home Office could face cuts of around a third.

He says passing the Welfare Reform Bill risks sending the message that "we are going to go quietly when it comes to the scale of what the chancellor is proposing".

The SDLP's Alex Attwood picks up the debate on Welfare Reform, praising the impact of the SNP - "the most effective government on these islands, and a very effective electoral and political machine."

"We should be as close to them as we can on issues of common interest, in order to maximise our impact on the thinking of a Conservative government in London".

But, he says there are some things the SNP could learn from Northern Ireland, in terms of welfare mitigation.

The DUP's Gregory Campbell says the delays and "possible derailing" of welfare reform puts at risk "thousands of jobs" at the Ballykelly and Maze sites and "tens of thousands" of potential jobs through the non-devolution of corporation tax.

The former MOD site at Ballykelly is the intended site for the new headquarters for the Department of Agriculture (DARD).

"I think it is a nonsense to start to play off welfare reform against DARD headquarters," Mrs O'Neill says.

Basil McCrea of NI21 asks the minister about the number of staff at AFBI (the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute) who have applied for the voluntary exit scheme.

She says AFBI has received 246 applications.

Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs asks how the scheme can go ahead if there is no funding for the exit scheme due to Sinn Fein's opposition to welfare reform.

"The scheme is going forward as is at the present moment in time," Mrs O'Neill replies

Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill is now answering questions from MLAs.

In reply to a question from the DUP's William Irwin, the minister says she hopes to be in a position later this year to introduce legislation for compulsory Bovine Viral Diarrhoea testing.

The SDLP's Alex Attwood begins his contribution by wishing the first minister "a very full recovery".

Turning to the Welfare Reform Bill, he says it is worth noting the approach the Scottish National Party has said it will take to the new Conservative government.

He says its leade,r Nicola Sturgeon, has said she would "attack the scale and speed of austerity" and "work up an alternative to austerity".

"If that's not a pathway to what we should be doing, whatever we think about welfare, in the next 42 days, in terms of our engagement with the British government, we are ill serving not just those on welfare in Northern Ireland, but all the people of Northern Ireland," Mr Attwood says.

"We can't continue with the raiding of the block grant," she says, "we need more powers to grow the economy and we need to create more jobs".

She finishes by saying "either you sit here and accept what the Tories give you, or you stand up for the people that elect you".

Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill asks why the minister brought the bill "when he knew fine rightly it wouldn't be agreed upon".

She asks "where is the bedroom tax paper? Where is the agreement on a disability scheme?"

"Despite the fact my party have flagged up the concerns we have and the issues we need to see addressed, that hasn't been forthcoming," says Mrs O'Neill.

She says "at the end of the day, we need to work together, face down the Tory austerity agenda and do it together".