NI power-share talks pass deadline
Talks aimed at saving Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government have moved into a fifth night after discussions passed a deadline for agreement with no sign of imminent success.
Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness had until lunchtime on Friday to come up with a deal, or the British and Irish Governments were to publish their own proposals.
But discussions are continuing at Hillsborough castle, Co Down, with the DUP demanding more time for negotiations, while Sinn Fein said it will soon have to ‘make a call’ on whether a deal is possible.
Sinn Fein negotiators briefed party members on progress, but adjourned the meeting to return to the talks.
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.
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.”
But he said he wanted an unambiguous deal that “every Ulster man and woman” could understand.
“The DUP are not about wrecking, we are not about pulling the Assembly down. It’s up to Martin McGuinness if he wants to crash the process, we are not going to be crashing any process,” said the DUP Minister.
He added: “There can be a deal but it can only be on the basis of respect and equality. Some people think they can ride roughshod over the DUP, that they are going to bully them and bully the unionist people…that’s not going to happen.”
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.”
