THE DUP and Sinn Féin were last night weighing up whether they should accept the draft outline of a deal for breaking the political deadlock put to them by Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday.
Their respective leaders Peter Robinson and Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness today must decide whether the British-Irish proposals on the key issues of policing and justice, and parading, are sufficient to avert the collapse of the Northern Executive and Assembly.
If they reject or postpone responding to the “pathway to a deal” proposed by the governments at Hillsborough Castle then Mr Cowen and Mr Brown, based on their 48-hour deadline issued on Wednesday afternoon, must today put forward their proposals on the best way out of the impasse.
Dublin and London are expected to allow the parties up to this afternoon – and later if they feel there is a prospect of a resolution – to make known their positions on the proposals.
Most pressure is seen as falling on Mr Robinson as the British and Irish draft agreement meets the chief Sinn Féin demand of setting a day – early May – for the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Executive.
Mr Robinson chiefly must decide whether the British-Irish proposals for finding “enhanced” ways of dealing with parading is an acceptable trade-off for the DUP accepting the May date for creating a Northern department of justice.
It is understood that the British-Irish proposals on parading seek to bring in greater local involvement in dealing with contentious marches but that they fall short of abolishing the Parades Commission.
Sinn Féin, according to senior sources, see a degree of merit in the British-Irish draft proposals, but say the party only would be prepared to sign up to the proposals if it had cast-iron commitments that Mr Robinson and the DUP would accept the deal. “It’s up to Peter,” said a Sinn Féin source.
Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin hosted round-table talks at Hillsborough Castle yesterday afternoon, while the Ministers met the parties separately and there were also meetings between the parties, including DUP-Sinn Féin talks, sources said.
Mr Robinson was keeping his cards close to his chest last night. But he told yesterday’s unionist-supporting News Letter that the DUP was “up for a deal”.
The parties said the talks which continued at Hillsborough late last night were constructive and useful, although there is a general realisation that the key decisions will be made today, and that they are decisions mainly for the DUP and Sinn Féin.
DUP Minister for Finance Sammy Wilson said the best result would be one made by Northern Ireland politicians. “I would rather have a ‘Made in Ulster’ deal than something which is brought here and imposed on us,” said Mr Wilson.
Last night’s BBC’s Hearts and Minds programme reported that the Orange Order was behind the secret talks between the DUP and Ulster Unionists aimed at examining whether the parties can realign or merge to prevent Sinn Féin becoming the largest single party in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin president Mr Adams said “any precondition on parades ahead of the transfer of policing and justice powers simply will not work”. “Anybody who thinks that the price of policing and justice is a walk down the Garvaghy Road or Ardoyne is just ridiculous,” he said.
He did not rule out the chance of a deal being done today. “We still don’t have an agreement but it isn’t over until it is over,” he said.