PETER ROBINSON and Martin McGuinness are to hold a critical meeting at Stormont today that could determine whether the Northern Executive and Assembly can be saved from imminent collapse.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown are meeting at Downing Street this afternoon, conscious that the only hope of averting a breakdown at Stormont may be Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness agreeing an eleventh-hour compromise.
Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness last night remained locked in a brinkmanship struggle, with the Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister demanding a date for devolving policing and justice and the DUP leader insisting on the abolition of the Parades Commission as a trade-off for the transfer of these powers to the Northern Executive.
There appeared to be a growing acceptance in Dublin and London last night that Sinn Féin will not agree to the disbandment of the Parades Commission, although a compromise on parading short of abolishing the commission appears possible.
Political and official sources said the future of the current Executive and Assembly now hinges on whether Mr Robinson is prepared to step back from his parading demand.
Senior sources also expressed fears that the standoff has moved beyond policing and justice and parading with Sinn Féin fast coming to the conviction “that a proper working relationship with the DUP in the Executive is impossible”.
Mr McGuinness was in telephone contact with Mr Cowen and Mr Brown last night. “Martin McGuinness put it very clearly that there must be movement on policing and justice without the added DUP precondition on parades,” said a senior Sinn Féin source.
Were Mr McGuinness to resign as Deputy First Minister, Assembly elections would have to be called after seven days.
Hitherto Assembly elections would have posed major difficulties for the DUP because of the personal and financial controversies relating to Iris Robinson. However, the move towards an electoral pact involving the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party to try to prevent Mr McGuinness being in line to take the First Minister post in such Assembly elections has eased some of the pressure on Mr Robinson.