The North's main political parties will decide tomorrow whether to participate in the Assembly committee designed to establish what obstacles must be overcome to restore devolution.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain last week set a deadline of tomorrow for the parties to say whether they would engage with the all-party committee. Sinn Féin, the SDLP and, to a lesser extent, the Ulster Unionist Party complained that Mr Hain had capitulated to DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley in restricting the role of this committee.
This body could be of importance as it effectively would set the agenda for the political negotiations that the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair are due to hold with the political parties at the end of June.
Dr Paisley insisted last week that the DUP would not be a part of any committee that would involve face-to-face talks with Sinn Féin. This in turn led to Mr Hain making a commitment in the House of Commons that the committee would not have a negotiating role; rather that its purpose was to identify obstacles to restoring devolution.
Conflicting signals emerged from the DUP last week over the remit of the body, with DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson initially appearing comfortable with the proposal. Dr Paisley, however, said his party would not sit on the committee with Sinn Féin, later modifying his position to opposing the committee having any negotiating function.
The proposal currently is that the four main parties should have three members each on the committee and the Alliance party should have two. While Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the UUP were prepared to have leading members participating, the indications so far from the DUP are that it would nominate middle-ranking MLAs.
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, complained at the weekend that the DUP was causing a "tremendous amount of confusion" over the issue. "They have big decisions to make and we as much as anybody else are very keen to hear if they are going to move forward with us to bring about the restoration of these institutions," he said.
"At the minute the soundings coming from the DUP are not that encouraging and I think that has caused great confusion," Mr McGuinness told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme.
He said that the British and Irish governments and the parties should move on without the DUP if it was not prepared to engage properly with the other parties in seeking to restore devolution.
The Assembly is not sitting today as it is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland. Neither is it sitting tomorrow, and it remains unclear whether the Assembly will convene next week.
"If it becomes clear to us by the end of June that the DUP are not prepared to play their part, then our message to the two governments will be very clear: close the Assembly," said Mr McGuinness.
SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell said yesterday that his party would support any motion that moved the political situation forward, but that he had concerns about "conflicting messages" being sent by Mr Hain about the role of the committee.
"If Peter Hain sustains his private assurances to us that the committee will scope out the obstacles to the restoration of devolution, then we would be broadly favourable to the committee. But we need assurances that he will abandon his efforts to pander to Paisley," added Dr McDonnell.
A UUP spokesman said the party would participate in the committee as the idea for the body was first proposed by party leader Sir Reg Empey.
