Governments publish draft deal to restore Stormont

The UK and Irish governments have published a draft deal to restore Stormont.

The Assembly could be back up and running on Friday if the parties sign up to the proposal.

Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Julian Smith, asked the Speaker of the defunct house to hold a sitting at noon.

The bold move comes without the DUP or Sinn Féin having publicly agreed to all the proposals.

The new deal is called "New Decade, New Approach".

Strike action

The draft deal comes as thousands of nurses and other health workers are due to strike once again over pay parity and staffing levels.

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith reiterated that his financial packagecould end the nurses strike.

Members of the RCN and UNISON are expected to take to the picket lines at 8am on Friday morning.

Mr Smith said there was a major financial package on offer from the Government, that would mean the strike would not go ahead if the parties restored the institutions.

A deal of 'compromises'

Tánaiste Simon Coveney said that parties must "forget the language of win or lose, this is a deal filled with compromises."

Mr Coveney said the people needed to tell their politicians to take the opportunity and seal the deal.

"It's now time their politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents," he said.

"It's time to show leadership and get back to powersharing in Stormont."

The Deputy Head of Government also said it was important to remember the murder of Lyra McKee that brought parties back to talks 9 months ago.

"We had been called out to get politics in Northern Ireland working again," he said.

Party responses

In response, DUP leader Arlene Foster has said a deal tabled by the UK and Irish governments represents a "fair and balanced way" to restore powersharing.

Meanwhile Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said she will give the deal "careful consideration" - and that the party's ruling council will meet later today to "fully assess it."

The deal represents the governments' joint assessment of how long standing wrangles on issues such as the Irish language can be resolved.

Mr Smith said the parties realised they had reached a critical juncture.

"We have got one chance to get this right and I am under no doubt that everyone realises that this chance is now," he said.

Mr Coveney said political leaders had a choice - whether to meet the proposals with generosity or negativity.

"There is no such thing as a perfect deal and that is why parties have to make choices as to how they respond," he said.

"This is the opportunity for people to take - the alternatives are not good."

The impasse has focused on proposals for Irish language legislation; reform of a contentious Assembly voting mechanism; and plans to make the institutions less susceptible to collapse in the future.

The parties had been working to a Monday deadline to restore the institutions.

Earlier, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP's Westminster leader, said the party was not yet in a position to sign up to the proposals.

"We are in a process of continuing to discuss these matters both internally and externally," he said.

"We continue to represent the interests of all of the people of Northern Ireland in seeking to get an agreement that ensures that this place is up and running again on a secure and sustainable basis."

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill said her party was at Stormont to "do the business" but stopped short of saying it was content with the governments' deal.

"Our determination is to make politics work," she said.

"It is going to take all of the parties to make the politics work.

"It is going to need to be a sustainable and credible government. It is going to need to be a government that actually has equality at its core."

Ms O'Neill insisted the deadline was a "real" one.

On Monday, legislation to give civil servants extra powers to run the region's troubled public services expires and the UK Government assumes a legal duty to call a fresh Assembly election.

Reaction

Chief Constable Simon Byrne has welcomed the announcement, saying

"There is much in this document which is good for policing and I welcome its publication.

"Clearly, the support for boosting the strength of the PSNI to 7,500 policeofficers will be at the heart of our aspiration to invest significantly incommunity policing across Northern Ireland in the months ahead.

"We welcome plans to reform and streamline our outdated criminal justiceprocesses and also address the issue of legacy investigations which drain our focus on policing the issues of here and now.

"A fresh emphasis on tacking the scourge of paramilitary crime andintimidation, supported by legislation to tackle unexplained wealth, sits foursquare with our operational priorities."