The Irish and British governments are prepared to accept a qualified Yes from Sinn Féin and the DUP to the St Andrews Agreement as a mechanism to postpone the November 24th deadline for the abolition of the Northern Assembly, according to informed sources.
The two governments will in turn deliver their public response to the positions adopted by parties and it appears they are prepared to accept that enough progress has been made to proceed with the next phase of the process. That will involve the publication of legislation by the British government on November 20th, setting out the terms on which the power- sharing Executive will operate.
The pledge to be taken by the first and deputy first ministers on policing will be a critical part of that legislative package. Sinn Féin has refused to accept a pledge involving explicit recognition of the PSNI, but a compromise formula involving acceptance of "policing and the rule of law" is believed to be acceptable.
If Sinn Féin accepts the formula it is expected that the party's designated deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, will indicate conditional acceptance of the pledge, in advance of its ratification by a special ardfheis on policing.
No date has been set for that ardfheis and the Sinn Féin ardchomhairle has still to consider the policing issue. The decision on when and if to hold an ardfheis on policing would become the next big deadline in the process if the November 24th deadline is successfully negotiated.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said in Dublin yesterday, after a meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss the North, that there was "an amount of messing and posturing going on from Sinn Féin and the DUP." He said that he had urged the Taoiseach to press for a meeting of the Programme for Government committee in the North to begin direct contact between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the mechanisms for establishing the executive.
Mr Durkan also called for a meeting involving the governments and all the parties in the North to show there is a real process at play and that the two governments were in control. "There is not much point in the parties going into number 11 Downing Street to meet the chancellor of the exchequer if they will not meet each other in the North," said Mr Durkan.
