Talks over cash deal to bolster peace

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy will today meet Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin over proposals that the British government will pump extra revenue into Northern Ireland to bolster any peace process deal.

Speculation has been mounting that the British government is considering asking Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to approve a £1bn (€1.4bn) package to help Stormont ministers tackle infrastructural problems in the North if power-sharing is resumed.