The North's Assembly is likely to be restored tomorrow after the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, announced it would be suspended from midnight yesterday. The pro-agreement parties will then have another six weeks to reach a deal. Dr Reid said the parties had been tantalisingly close to agreement and he urged them to "grasp the window of opportunity" that another round of negotiations would bring.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he hoped the suspension would be short and the parties would "bridge their differences" during future talks.
The Ulster Unionists said Dr Reid had no choice but suspension. However, Sinn Fein expressed anger and accused the British government of breaching the Belfast Agreement and pandering to the unionist veto.
There was speculation last night that the IRA might end contact with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in protest, and might also withdraw its offer to put weapons beyond use. The IRA broke off contact with the IICD when the Assembly was suspended for three months last year.
When asked how he expected the IRA would react, Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams said there would be anger and frustration. He added: "What the IRA does, I think, is entirely something which the British government needs to be reflecting upon."
Dr Reid will hold talks with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, today.
Dr Reid suspended the Assembly under Section 4 of the Northern Ireland Act 2000 and will restore it under Section 3. For legal reasons, he could not state precisely when he would restore it but it is understood it will happen tomorrow.
"I hope and believe the necessary review will be completed very quickly and I can lift suspension and restore the situation before the end of the weekend," he said.
Dr Reid said he was very encouraged that the proposals by the British and Irish governments to end the deadlock had not been rejected by the pro-agreement parties and were "generally seen as having the potential" to secure progress.
"It is because of that potential and that fact that we are, I believe, tantalisingly close to being in a different world here in Northern Ireland. We have it in our grasp to take a huge stride forward. I believe the parties should be given more time."
Sinn Fein MP Mr Martin McGuinness said suspension was a clear breach of the Belfast Agreement but republican rights could not be ignored. "The Fenians are about the place and we are not going to the back of the bus for David Trimble, John Reid, Tony Blair or anyone else. Those days are gone."
The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, described the suspension as highly regrettable. He urged all paramilitaries to fulfil their commitments on decommissioning and for the British government to publish immediately its policing implementation plan.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, defended the suspension and said he hoped progress could be made in future talks.
The Northern Ireland Parades' Commission has imposed restrictions on several Apprentice Boys' feeder marches today, including those scheduled to pass the nationalist Ardoyne area in north Belfast - scene of riots last month - and the Lower Ormeau Road.
The Apprentice Boys then travel to Derry to join the main parade.
But in a statement last night the Apprentice Boys said: "The Parades' Commission naively, perhaps unwittingly, has become an institution of judicial apartheid. It has effectively confirmed sectarian segregation of main arterial routes and of areas that have been generally accepted as shared space."
In anticipation of trouble, the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has ordered extra resources in north Belfast. The police will be supported by water cannons borrowed from the Belgian police in order to curtail the use of plastic bullets as a crowd control measure.
Suspension may allow parties sort out mess; Suspension `least worst option,' says UUP: page 6 Garret FitzGerald: page 12 Editorial comment: page 13