The chief whips of the Northern Ireland parties will meet again tomorrow to try to arrive at some accommodation on the opening two weeks of business for the Assembly when it resumes on Monday week after 3½ years in suspension.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain has set out an initial agenda for the parties, but last Friday, amid some acrimony, the whips of the main parties - the DUP, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP - failed to agree on whether to endorse his proposals.
The Assembly's 108 members are due to gather in the main chamber at Stormont on Monday week where they will formally register as unionist, nationalist or "other" politicians, in line with the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Hain has further proposed that business leaders address the Assembly members on Tuesday week. The main thrust of this initiative would be to impress upon the politicians the economic benefits of Northern Ireland politicians rather than British direct rule ministers running local affairs.
The following Monday, May 22nd, the first minister of the Scottish Assembly, Jack McConnell, is invited to talk to MLAs on the positive impact of devolution on Scotland.
The following day the Assembly members are to be asked to elect a DUP first minister, Sinn Féin deputy first minister and 10 Executive Ministers. With the DUP still refusing to share power with Sinn Féin, this enterprise is destined to fail.
However, as happened in July 1999, the rather farcical situation of a totally nationalist Executive being elected could be repeated on May 23rd. In such an eventuality, as was the case seven years ago, the Northern Secretary would immediately collapse this Executive because it would not meet the Belfast Agreement's requirement that it be proportionally representative of the unionist and nationalist traditions.
Thereafter, the proposal is for the Assembly to complete its initial run of six weeks to late June when politicians would break for the summer recess. They are due to return in September for the lead-up to November 24th, the deadline for agreement imposed by the British and Irish governments.
In the meantime, in late June Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair are scheduled to host intensive talks with the parties to try to boost the chances of the parties striking a deal by November 24th.
The governments are anxious that the parties should have some real business to occupy themselves when the Assembly reconvenes on Monday week. The DUP and UUP have no difficulties with the initial provisional agenda, but the SDLP and Sinn Féin want the emphasis on creating a fully functioning Executive and Assembly.
Gerry Adams, highlighting alleged British collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, said yesterday his party was not interested in a "talking shop" but in establishing whether the DUP was "up" for sharing power.
