Power-sharing deadline - Test ahead for latest ultimatum

IN recent years, the North has been subjected to a series of deadlines - none of which has worked so far - to get the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin talking to each other.

It remains to be seen whether the latest, complete with a series of with carrots and sticks aimed at coaxing both sides, will prove more efficacious, as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair hope it will.

After their summit in Armagh city yesterday, they issued what amounts to an ultimatum aimed at restoring the power-sharing institutions that have been suspended since October 2002.