British-Irish body to meet on North stalemate

The Government has asked to convene a British-Irish body that will give Dublin a greater say in the running of the North in the absence of an executive.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney heads to Belfast today and has asked for the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to meet.

It is a decade since the special body last met and its convening signals that relations in the North between unionist and republicans are unlikely to heal soon.