In a joint statement last night, both governments referred to its previous communique of April 26 and the “new phase of political talks in Northern Ireland”.

After more than 500 days of stalemate, Northern Ireland has surpassed the record previously set by Belgium for the longest run in peacetime without a working government, writes Peter John McLoughlin.

Pressure is mounting on political parties in the North ahead of a deadline to form a power sharing Executive.

The Ulster Unionists have announced their intent to resign from the North’s power-sharing executive and form an opposition over claims the Provisional IRA still exists.