Ian Paisley And The DUP Put First Minister Nomination On Hold

After the furore over Michael Stone's attempted forced-entry into Stormont died down, the Northern Assembly continued their meeting to nominate the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

However, the DUP refused to put forward their nominee saying that they would only do so after Sinn Féin "tested and proved over a credible period in terms of support for the PSNI, the courts, the rule of law, a complete end to paramilitary and criminal activity and the removal of terrorist structures."

In response, Sinn Féin have responded that they will call a special ard fheis on policing in January, but only if a timetable is in place for the devolution of policing and justice is agreed.

Commenting in these divergent positions, the British Secretary of State Peter Hain said that Sinn Féin must call the conference on policing and that the DUP "should stop saying they will never accept devolution in their political lifetime.

"If they keep saying that, some of their leading figures - not Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson... there is no prospect of moving forward," he continued.

Summarizing the progress, Mr Hain said that, "under the circumstances, what we got was that everybody was prepared to move forward on the St Andrews agenda. They all agreed to that agenda and we have got the prospect now of devolution in place - but in the end dissolution is the alternative."