Former deputy leader of the Alliance Party Eileen Bell will be the presiding officer of the Assembly when it is recalled in mid May after more than 3½ years in suspension.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain announced yesterday - the eighth calendar anniversary of the Belfast Agreement - that Ms Bell, an Assembly member for North Down, will take over the post of speaker.
It was held in the first Assembly by the former Alliance leader, Lord Alderdice, now head of the Independent Monitoring Commission.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair last week set November 24th as the effective deadline for the North's 108 Assembly members to agree to form a fully functioning Executive, or cabinet, with DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley as first minister and Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister.
In the absence of agreement the two leaders made it clear that there would be an enhanced role for Dublin in the affairs of the North.
Ms Bell, who said she will not stand in the next Assembly election (if one is held), will be presiding officer until this date unless the Assembly members can agree to form an Executive before then.
If the deadline is met then it will be for the Assembly to formally appoint her in the post or to elect another member.
Her appointment will reduce Alliance's representation in the Assembly from six to five. Alliance leader David Ford said it would have been "good manners and appropriate" if Mr Hain had informed him in advance of the appointment.
Mr Hain, who is in India on a trade mission, said Ms Bell was "hugely respected across the community and political divide" and that she would bring a wealth of experience to the post.
Mr Hain again appealed to Northern politicians to form a power-sharing government. "They must decide if they want to work in a democratically elected and accountable Assembly, or do they want to remain outside, unable to make decisions on behalf of those people who they represent," he said.
DUP Assembly members at a meeting in Parliament Buildings, Stormont, yesterday welcomed the recalling of the Assembly in May but said they would not be "bullied" into sharing power with Sinn Féin, nor would they be coerced by warnings of greater North-South co-operation. "The unionist community will resist any attempt to undermine the constitutional status of Northern Ireland," they said.
Earlier in Belfast, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said party members must suspend any scepticism they have about the bona fides of the DUP and work to persuade Dr Paisley's party to join them in the Northern Executive.
