CROSS-border bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement are facing an "existential crisis" at a crucial time because Stormont's suspension is preventing the appointment of new members.
With many appointees' terms expired or due to end in the coming weeks, there is growing concern about the future operation of north-south bodies overseen by what should be boards of a dozen members or more.
Business body InterTradeIreland, which ordinarily would have 12 board members, could see its top management tier reduced to three before the end of this year.
It's feared that if the current situation prevails, then by the end of 2020 the Newry-based organisation's board will not have enough members to function.
The appointment of members to cross-border bodies set up under the terms of the 1998 peace accord can only be made by the North-South Ministerial Council.
However, due to the suspension of the north's devolved institutions for the past two-and-a-half years, the council has not met since November 2016.
The DUP has said it is prepared to return to Stormont, but Sinn Féin has insisted agreement must be reached on outstanding rights issues.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement were being "gutted at the moment they’re needed most".
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"Brexit threatens to pull this island further apart. In response we should be ramping up north-south partnership to protect people, businesses and communities," he said.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin also said a "really important strand of the Good Friday Agreement" was falling victim to what he described as a "toxic combination" of the DUP and Sinn Féin in Belfast, the Tories in London and Fine Gael in Dublin.
"Unfortunately, the bodies were already having a hard time before Sinn Féin and the DUP collapsed the assembly, but the continued failure by the parties to get their act together and restore it is now causing an existential crisis," he said.
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"The north-south bodies have the potential to build into really important institutions over the coming years, especially in the context of Brexit but equally, they could continue to decline and the task of revitalising them becomes ever harder."
A spokesman for the Executive Office confirmed that the NSMC is responsible for board appointments but is unable to meet in the absence of devolution.
