Assembly members will consider forming a special all-party committee aimed at restoring devolution after, as is expected, today's attempt to elect DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness as First and Deputy First Minister fails.
Assembly members this afternoon are scheduled to go through the formalities of hearing Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams nominate Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness for the two top Northern Executive posts, conscious that there is no chance of the proposal succeeding.
While some politicians have described Mr Adams's initiative as a stunt and a charade, the Sinn Féin president insisted it was "the right thing to do".
Part of the reason for nominating Dr Paisley was to clearly signal to unionism "that despite the difficulties involved and apprehension among some sections of nationalism, Sinn Féin is prepared to accept Ian Paisley as First Minister".
"It may be that Ian Paisley will refuse to accept a nomination at this time. That is his choice. But as Sinn Féin has said numerous times, the only reason we are participating in the Peter Hain Assembly is to get the powersharing Executive re-established," said Mr Adams.
He indicated that Sinn Féin would again try to elect a First and Deputy First Minister before the Assembly breaks for the summer in late June.
"Understandably there is a lot of scepticism about whether Ian Paisley will ever lead his Democratic Unionist Party into the Executive with the rest of us. I think everyone who is committed to the Good Friday agreement should suspend our scepticism and make a good-faith effort to get the Executive up and running," said Mr Adams.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said yesterday that Dr Paisley would lead his MLAs into the Assembly chamber tomorrow. When Mr Adams makes his proposal, the speaker Eileen Bell will then formally ask Dr Paisley if he accepts the nomination. "Of course he will refuse," said Mr Robinson. "This is an unnecessary piece of theatre. We know the outcome and it is just a matter of dealing with it," he added.
The failure to elect a First and Deputy First Minister would mean that the plan to elect a 10-member Executive tomorrow would not proceed.
At the weekend, Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey proposed that in the face of this failure, a special committee of the Assembly should be established with the sole purpose of examining how devolution can be restored. Should the DUP, Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the other parties agree to join the committee, it would overcome the problem of the DUP not dealing directly with Sinn Féin and create an opportunity to resolve outstanding difficulties in reforming the Northern Executive, he said.
SDLP Assembly member Seán Farren said that since Dr Paisley would not share power with Sinn Féin, this afternoon's nominations would be nothing more than a "charade".
He supported the idea, however, of a special committee because if it "were properly focused then it would be a positive step in terms of trying to restore a power-sharing government".
Mr Robinson indicated that the DUP had no objection in principle to the special committee as long as it had a proper remit.
Sinn Féin also appears willing to consider the proposal of a special committee. Such a committee would appear to comply with Mr Adams's insistence that in terms of Assembly business, Sinn Féin would only consider matters pertaining to reinstating devolution.
