TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen is to hold private talks with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in his Co Offaly constituency later today following a worsening of relations between Sinn Féin and the DUP over the devolution of policing and justice powers.
Mr Cowen is also to hold talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street on Monday afternoon.
It was thought that a speech by First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson at his party’s annual conference last weekend indicated some intention to agree to the transfer of justice powers from London to Stormont at some point.
However, separate talks in Downing Street on Thursday between Mr Brown and the joint leaders of the Stormont Executive on the troubled devolution project served to highlight the continuing difficulties at the very heart of the Executive. A spokesman for the Taoiseach said the talks with Mr McGuinness would be private and were being held “to review progress”.
He warned against jumping to conclusions about the state of relations on all sides of the issue and insisted that both Mr Cowen and Mr Brown had remained “engaged” throughout recent difficulties.
Sinn Féin said today’s talks with Mr Cowen were taking place at Mr McGuinness’s request. A well-placed source said Mr McGuinness had already met the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin earlier this week to raise what Sinn Féin views as the DUP reneging on its obligations under the St Andrews Agreement, which paved the way for the restoration of devolution in May 2007.
Of prime concern to the party, in addition to the stalled devolution of policing and justice powers, are the failure to work towards an Irish language Act and what the source described as “the operation of the Stormont institutions”.
In a speech to DUP colleagues in Co Derry last night, Mr Robinson repeated calls for reform of the voting mechanisms at Stormont “to regain the support of the community”.
The “continual inability” of the Executive to agree on policy was draining credibility from the Stormont institutions, Mr Robinson warned.
“It is clear that the present arrangements are not delivering and whilst some would seek to cling to them for fear of change, it is time to remove the obstacles to the Executive’s effective performance,” he said.
“In essence our proposals include the abolition of community designation and its replacement by a 65 per cent weighted majority voting,” he added.
However, Sinn Féin told The Irish Timeslast night that Mr Robinson's speech was further evidence of the DUP "looking for unionist majority rule".