UK, Ireland propose steps for N. Irish deal

Britain and Ireland put forward a plan yesterday for reviving self rule in Northern Ireland that could break a long-standing deadlock between the province's two main parties.

The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party and pro-Irish Sinn Fein failed to reach a compromise on two issues during three days of intensive talks: a DUP refusal to govern with Sinn Fein, and Sinn Fein's reluctance to endorse local police.

The latest plan seeks to find a way around these stumbling blocks to restore a local assembly suspended since 2002.

Both parties said a deal was possible but that they needed to consult their members and study the proposals in detail before making a final decision.

"I think we have a way forward here," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a news conference.

The agreement includes suggestions for changes to the workings of the local assembly, set up under a 1998 peace deal to give pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Roman Catholics a joint say in the province's affairs. It recognises all sides' rights to take part in local government and requires full endorsement of the police. "I think against all expectations the end is in sight," Eamon Phoenix, politics lecturer at Stranmillis College in Belfast, said. "All the ingredients are there - Sinn Fein's acceptance of the police, the DUP's acceptance of Sinn Fein's right to be in government."

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended three decades of violence between majority Protestants committed to ties with Britain and a Catholic minority in favour of a united Ireland. However, political cooperation between long-standing enemies has proved elusive.

Firebrand DUP leader Ian Paisley, who arrived at the talks in St Andrews, Scotland, saying he had "nothing to give", suggested the proposals were something his party could accept.