Power-sharing crisis talks resume

DUP Leader Peter Robinson arrivies for negotiations at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down
12 April 2012

Marathon talks to save Northern Ireland's powersharing government have resumed.

Sinn Fein and Democratic Unionist leadership teams again negotiated past midnight at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, with a deal proving elusive.

A deadline imposed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Irish premier Brian Cowen to reach a settlement on devolving policing and justice powers from London to Belfast passed on Friday lunchtime. These are the longest continuous talks of the peace process.

The parties were told failure to secure a deal by then would see the two governments publish their own proposals to end the impasse over transferring law and order powers.

But with meaningful engagement between the DUP and Sinn Fein continuing, the timeframe was allowed to slip as Dublin and London continued to monitor progress.

The DUP is demanding more time for negotiations, while Sinn Fein said it will soon have to "make a call" on whether a deal is possible.

Republicans want a swift devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to the Stormont Assembly, while unionists want new arrangements for overseeing loyal order parades before giving the go ahead.

The DUP's Edwin Poots said: "There has been a considerable amount of work done. I think we are getting to know where the bottom lines are here, and I think it is absolutely necessary that we have total clarity and certainty both on policing and justice, and on the parades issue."

Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy, asked if "a deal was on", said: "Not as yet, it's not on.

"I hope that that changes over the coming hours, and we will certainly remain focused to try to achieve that, but unfortunately to date, a deal is not yet on."

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