Legislation introduced at Westminster yesterday by the Northern Secretary is designed to restore the Stormont institutions, starting with the recall of the Assembly on May 15th.
The Northern parties have, as expected, been given a November deadline enshrined in law to agree a power-sharing Executive or face the dissolution of the Assembly.
Peter Hain said the emergency Bill, which will be rushed through parliament in time for the Assembly's recall, set "an immoveable deadline of November 24th for getting back to devolution".
"Otherwise, as the prime minister and the Taoiseach have said, we will have to move on. We are aiming for success."
He added that the governments would do everything possible to facilitate progress "but it is for the parties to make it happen".
Under the Bill, Stormont's 108 Assembly members will meet on May 15th to elect a First and Deputy First Minister and to nominate ministers under the d'Hondt system.
If this is not achieved by November 24th then the scheduled Assembly election of May 2007 will be "indefinitely postponed", the Assembly would be dissolved and pay and allowances ended.
If there is agreement, then the Assembly and the new Executive will be given until May 2008 before an election is called - a reversal of earlier plans to call a snap election to help cement any deal. This measure is strongly opposed by the SDLP.
Mr Hain said: "We have reached the point where the parties must decide how they want Northern Ireland governed. They can have devolved government restored and an end to locally unaccountable direct rule."
If an Executive is agreed, Mr Hain will sanction the full restoration of the devolved institutions under the Northern Ireland Act, 2000.
The next Assembly election could be held off until 2008.
MPs also debated a miscellaneous provisions Bill dealing with the devolution of policing and justice powers to any agreed future Executive.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said a decision by the House of Commons would make little difference to political reality in Northern Ireland.
In particular, the devolution of policing and justice powers, a key Sinn Féin demand, depended on unionist confidence, he told MPs.
"That is an essential issue. I have the greatest doubt as to whether in my lifetime we'll ever see the circumstances where they could be devolved," he added.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said details of the Bill fell somewhere between futility and a fig leaf.