Sinn Féin today faced the prospect of losing a ministerial post in Northern Ireland's next devolved government after a senior loyalist Assembly member agreed to join the Ulster Unionist group at Stormont.
As Northern Ireland's 108 Assembly members prepared to gather at Stormont on Monday for the first time since they were elected in November 2003, the Progressive Unionist Party announced their leader David Ervine would form a group with Sir Reg Empey's Ulster Unionists.
The move would give the new group 25 Assembly members while Sinn Féin will have 24. And it will result in the Ulster Unionists being able to claim three ministries in a future Stormont executive, with Sinn Fein getting just two.
Prior to the decision of the PUP executive today, the Ulster Unionists would have only been entitled to two ministries as opposed to three for Sinn Fein.
The decision was confirmed by the PUP's chairperson Dawn Purvis. "It is felt that by forming a group, that will give the unionist community a much-needed boost."
Mr Ervine, who represents East Belfast in the Assembly, will become part of the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Group. However, he will not become a UUP member.
As things currently stand in the Assembly, the Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists have 32 Assembly members and are the largest group at Stormont. They will be entitled to the post of Stormont First Minister and to three ministries.
It had been thought last year that the DUP would have been able to claim four ministries but those plans were set back when their Newry and Armagh MLA Paul Berry was suspended following allegations about his private life.
Mr Berry will sit in the Assembly as an independent unionist.
Sinn Féin had hoped to have gained a ministry following Mr Berry's suspension but will now, if things stand, be entitled to the Deputy First Minister's post and two cabinet portfolios.
The SDLP will be entitled to two ministries in any future executive.
The Northern Ireland Assembly will gather on Monday without a power sharing executive or devolution in place. The chamber last sat in October 2002 when a row over allegations that republicans operated a spy ring forced the British Government to suspend devolution. Since then, there have been three failed attempts to establish a multi-party government.
But with expectations low about the formation of an executive before the summer, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair have given the Assembly an ultimate deadline of November 24th to achieve power sharing.
If that deadline is not met, both governments have warned that they will have to enter into partnership arrangements in the absence of devolution, enhancing cross-border links in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The DUP has insisted it will not simply go into a devolved government with Sinn Féin because of the November deadline.
Deputy leader Peter Robinson has insisted that the party will only contemplate such a move if it is convinced that the IRA has ended paramilitary and criminal activity for good.