Sinn Fein: Basis for NI deal reached
Sinn Fein: Basis for NI deal reached
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 04, Feb 2010 04:40
By Anisa Kadri.
Talks to save Northern Ireland's power-sharing government have now ended and the basis of a deal agreed, Sinn Fein has claimed.
The country's two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, have been locked in negotiations during the last few weeks over plans to devolve justice and policing powers from Westminster to Stormont.
While Sinn Fein has claimed the talks have now finished, the DUP has not yet confirmed the end to negotiations.
Junior minister Gerry Kelly refused to comment on the DUP's position, but said his party Sinn Fein believed the talks have come to a "positive conclusion".
Earlier, the Irish foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin revealed his belief that the DUP would agree to the proposals put forward.
It will only become clear whether the DUP have accepted the deal when their leader Peter Robinson addresses the rest of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The negotiations, held at Hillsborough Castle, lasted some ten days, with Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen flying to Belfast to help secure a deal.