The Taoiseach and other members of the Cabinet will hold talks with the Northern Executive in Armagh later.

Stormont’s ruling political parties have created a dangerous vacuum in the North by failing to fulfil the promise of peace and reconciliation, the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has claimed.

Fears are being expressed for the future of a cross-border ferry service linking Donegal and Derry.

The Taoiseach will today attend the 7th plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Derry.

The Northern Executive has announced a €3.5m funding boost for groups working with victims and survivors of the Troubles.

The Northern Executive should help defuse an energy crisis which has seen prices rise by 14%, an electricity boss said today.

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is withholding documents issued to the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin because of fears their release could destabilise Stormont’s power-sharing government, it was claimed today.

The Northern Executive has announced plans for an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of an entire family in a house fire in Omagh last year.

Ireland has no strategy in place to deal with its obligations under the World Programme for Human Rights Education, a cross-border education conference heard today.

ONCE again Tom Cooper (Letters, November 22) dons his dark green glasses when writing to defend extreme nationalism.

The Northern Executive has announced plans to end the 50% remission on prison sentences for serious sexual and violent offences.

The Northern Executive is due to receive a briefing today on the latest state of play in relation to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in England.

European Union officials may give the North special regional status to export beef and other goods following its response to the Surrey foot-and-mouth outbreak, it emerged today.

A special meeting of the Northern Executive to discuss foot and mouth will take place at Stormont tomorrow.

The British government has published legislation allowing for the future devolution of policing and justice powers in the North.

In Belfast Crown Court yesterday, during a surprise and unscheduled hearing, charges were quietly dropped against three men arrested, over an alleged IRA spy ring at Stormont.

EVEN by DUP standards, Dr Ian Paisley’s refusal to accept the collective word of the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning displays an incoherent political philosophy riddled with conspiracy theories.

There is fresh hope in the North this morning that the current deadlock may be broken by a new deal agreed by the Irish and British Governments.

The SDLP has criticised the Ulster Unionist Party for refusing to meet with a British-Irish inter-governmental delegation today to discuss the current problems in the peace process.

The British government is reportedly beginning to devise plans for the suspension of devolution in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Executive has announced a €4.9m strategy to help victims of the Troubles.