Power-sharing talks pass agreement deadline

Talks aimed at saving the North’s power-sharing government have moved into a fifth night after discussions passed a deadline for agreement today with no sign of imminent success.

Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness had until lunchtime to come up with a deal, or the British and Irish Governments were to publish their own proposals.

But discussions are continuing tonight at Hillsborough castle, Co Down, with the DUP demanding more time for negotiations, while Sinn Féin said it will soon have to ’make a call’ on whether a deal is possible.

Sinn Féin negotiators briefed party members this afternoon 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 tonight 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 Féin’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.”

Mr Murphy added: “If there is a possibility of a deal, we will pursue that, but at some stage we will have to call whether the DUP are capable or willing to do the business or not.”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Taoiseach Brian Cowen opened the talks on Monday, but failed to secure a deal before leaving the venue on Wednesday.

Negotiations have continued, but speculation earlier today that the two premiers could return to Hillsborough to seal a successful conclusion to the talks dwindled as the talking went on without a final deal.

As night fell on Hillsborough castle, flurries of snow added to the chill factor.

Mr Brown and Mr Cowen want the two sides to agree a process to transfer the powers from London to Belfast by the start of May.

The key sticking point is DUP demands for the abolition of the Parades Commission, which adjudicates on contentious marches, and instead leave it to an independent panel, appointed by the office of the First and Deputy First Minister, to arbitrate. But they have also insisted they are also open to alternative proposals on parades.

New disclosures of more secret talks between Mr Robinson’s DUP and Sir Reg Empey’s Ulster Unionist Party, under the auspices of the Orange Order, in an attempt to agree a unionist unity electoral pact are unlikely to help the already tense atmosphere around the negotiating table, and the signs going into today’s discussions offered little hope of a breakthrough.

The parades issue clearly remains the major obstacle and if there is no deal, then there is a distinct possibility Sinn Féin will walk away, collapsing the powersharing executive and triggering new Stormont elections.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan called on politicians involved in the Hillsborough talks to step up and complete devolution of policing and justice.

“We are now on the threshold of a very big choice – we can go for complete devolution or a complete mess,” he said.

“I believe people out there want things to work. There has been public anger and I would hope the message from the public has gone inside the building.

“People don’t want parties coming out waving their sticking points and justifications for why they did not do the deal.

“We have had outbursts all week but now we need outcomes. Politicians attending talks need now to step up and step forward.”