Assembly deadline 'not flexible'

Peter Hain says governments "will not blink" on deadline

There is no flexibility in the deadline for restoring devolution to Northern Ireland, the NI secretary and Irish foreign minister have said.

Peter Hain and Dermot Ahern made the statement after a meeting in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Hain said they would "not be blinking" on the 24 November deadline.

They also both reiterated that if Northern Ireland is to have devolved government then all parties have to sign up to policing.

On 6 April, prime ministers Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern travelled to Northern Ireland to unveil their blueprint for restoring devolution.

They confirmed the assembly would be recalled on 15 May with parties being given six weeks to elect an executive.

If that fails, the 108 members get a further 12 weeks to try to form a multi-party devolved government. If that attempt fails, salaries will stop.

The British and Irish governments would then work on partnership arrangements to implement the Good Friday Agreement.

Devolved government at Stormont was suspended in October 2002 following allegations of a republican spy ring.

A court case arising from the allegations later collapsed.