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| Brown and Cowen to hold NI talks | Brown and Cowen to hold NI talks |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Gordon Brown is to meet his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen for talks about the situation in Northern Ireland at Downing Street on Monday. | Gordon Brown is to meet his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen for talks about the situation in Northern Ireland at Downing Street on Monday. |
| Talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice powers ended in acrimony last week. | Talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice powers ended in acrimony last week. |
| On Saturday, Sinn Fein said Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness would seek a "critical and defining" meeting with Peter Robinson over the issue. | |
| The DUP has said it would be ready to move forward on Monday. | The DUP has said it would be ready to move forward on Monday. |
| The party's Jeffrey Donaldson said: "I think it's time that they calmed down a bit and let's engage to resolve the outstanding issues. | |
| "We remain at the table ready and willing to discuss those issues and move the process forward." | |
| Mr Donaldson said that Sinn Fein hadn't turned up for talks "on a number of occasions" during the past week. | |
| A Downing Street spokesman said Monday afternoon's talks at Downing Street were "part of ongoing discussions on Northern Ireland". | |
| The prime minister and the taoiseach talk regularly by phone and were pleased to have the opportunity to meet face-to-face, he said. | |
| 'Defining meeting' | |
| Sinn Fein's ruling executive met in Dublin on Saturday to discuss the issue | |
| Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the meeting between Mr McGuinness and NI's First Minister, Peter Robinson, would be "defining and critical". | |
| But he stopped short of saying the party was pulling Mr McGuinness out of the power-sharing Stormont Executive. | |
| Sinn Fein and the DUP - the two biggest political parties in Northern Ireland - have been arguing for months over the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont. | |
| Sinn Fein want the completion of devolution to happen as soon as possible, but the DUP have argued that there must be "community confidence" before the powers are put in the hands of local politicians. | |
| If Sinn Fein was to decide that Martin McGuinness should resign, the joint nature of the roles of first and deputy first ministers would mean that Peter Robinson would also be forced out of office. | |
| If there were no agreed re-appointments to the posts within seven days, an assembly election would have to be called. |