A FINANCIAL deal needed to support the devolution of policing and justice will not be concluded during talks involving the heads of the Executive and the British prime minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson has warned.
Both he and Martin McGuinness were expected to discuss the issue with Gordon Brown in New York last night.
The joint heads of the Stormont Executive are in the US to attend a special session of the annual Clinton Global Initiative, hosted by the former president, which will focus on Northern Ireland.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward are also attending, as are Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey.
Both governments, along with the US administration, are keen for the unresolved issue of justice devolution to be settled.
The Assembly has passed the second stage of a Bill to facilitate the devolution with DUP, Sinn Féin and Alliance support. The SDLP and Ulster Unionists, unhappy with some of the Bill’s details, voted against.
Assembly members have heard comments from some in the DUP which indicated that the transfer of justice powers will not take place anytime soon.
East Derry Assembly member Gregory Campbell said: “It is pointless and counter-productive to keep falsely raising hopes and expectations that the criteria are to be met shortly when everyone knows it is simply not going to happen in the immediate future.”
Mr McGuinness said talks in Downing Street on Tuesday involving Peter Robinson and Gordon Brown had achieved “real progress” and added it was now “crunch time” for a decision on the issue.
He has also linked the transfer of justice powers, seen as the completion of devolution, to the drive for inward investment and suggested a delay would damage the North’s economic prospects.
However Mr Robinson has said: “I have made it clear that these financial discussions will not be concluded in the States.”