THE TALKS aimed at resolving the North’s political standoff continued to drag on last night after Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown were again forced to postpone a trip to Northern Ireland to ratify a political deal between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
The DUP and Sinn Féin negotiating teams returned to Hillsborough Castle at 9pm to conduct further talks hosted by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward after an expected deal yesterday failed to materialise.
Both the DUP and Sinn Féin indicated that they still believed agreement was achievable.
Mr Brown and Mr Cowen had again cleared their diaries yesterday, with the Taoiseach cancelling a trip to Madrid to meet Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
There was considerable confidence that over the weekend the DUP leader Peter Robinson had decided to sign off on a deal with Sinn Féin that allowed a May date for the transfer of policing and justice powers and that also addressed the critical issue of parades, as well as other matters.
The Taoiseach and prime minister were expected in the early afternoon but this visit was put back and eventually cancelled yesterday evening when it became clear that Peter Robinson and the DUP leadership had more hurdles to overcome.
British foreign secretary David Miliband had to correct himself in the House of Commons yesterday when he told a Tory MP who had asked why Mr Brown was not at a debate on Afghanistan that: “He’s in Northern Ireland, actually.”
After receiving a note from officials, Mr Miliband said: “Although I had been reliably informed that the prime minister was on his way to Belfast, it now transpires that he is not on his way to Belfast because the situation in the . . . for various reasons which I won’t go into actually.”
Downing Street said it could not rule out a visit to Belfast by the prime minister, but he was planning to work in No 10 today.
The Sinn Féin Assembly group met for just over 90 minutes at Stormont, indicating that the party was content to accept the outline deal.
But a similar DUP meeting went on with some breaks throughout the day at Stormont. Some members, it is understood, had serious misgivings, principally over parades.
Sources said Mr Robinson, who has temporarily stood down as First Minister over the scandals relating to his wife Iris, was willing to press ahead but that some members were reluctant to make this move.
At 6pm Mr Robinson read a statement to the press in Parliament Buildings, Stormont flanked by his deputy leader Nigel Dodds, East Derry MP Gregory Campbell. Former first minister the Rev Ian Paisley also joined the group. Mr Robinson said the DUP “unanimously” was encouraged by progress to date. The party was committed to the “process . . . and we are determined to make the institutions work”.
Sinn Féin junior minister Gerry Kelly said his party believed it could reach agreement. “We are confident we can make the deal,” he said.
