Northern Ireland crisis talks have laid a 'pathway', Brown insists

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown yesterday said a crunch summit to save Northern Ireland's power-sharing government had failed to secure a settlement, but insisted a "pathway" to an agreement had been laid.

Speaking alongside Irish premier Brian Cowen, Mr Brown said three days of intensive negotiations between the main parties had seen progress made on the row surrounding stalled devolution of policing powers.

But he said the party leaders had now been given 48 hours to hammer out a deal. If they fail to do so, Mr Brown said, the British and Irish governments would publish their own plans for moving the process forward.

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Mr Brown said: "We believe we have proposals that make for a reasonable deal on devolution of policing and justice, we believe we have proposals that make for a reasonable settlement on all the outstanding issues."

But he added in regard to the 48-hour deadline: "If we judge that insubstantial progress has been made we will publish our own proposals."

Sinn Fein has threatened serious consequences for the devolved administration without a swift transfer of law and order powers. But the DUP insists it will only give the go-ahead when other outstanding issues, such as the management of controversial parades, are resolved.

Mr Brown said: "The importance of these decisions for the future of Northern Ireland cannot be under-estimated."