N. Ireland parties given 48-hour deadline

The British and Irish governments have given Northern Ireland's bickering parties until tomorrow to agree a way forward on a key power-sharing dispute after three days of talks failed to clinch a deal.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen insisted after the talks broke up yesterday that "progress" had been made and there was scope for an agreement.

The row over policing and justice powers is critical to the future of the province's power-sharing government of Protestants and Catholics, and failure to reach agreement could cause the administration to collapse.

But Mr Brown warned that if the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein fail to hammer out a deal within 48 hours, London and Dublin would publish their own plans to move the process forward.

"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," Mr Brown said.

He cautioned however, in regard to the 48-hour deadline: "If we judge that insubstantial progress has been made we will publish our own proposals."

Mr Brown stressed that both Britain and Ireland would prefer the parties to reach agreement themselves.

Transferring responsibility for policing and justice from London to Belfast is one of the final steps to full devolution envisaged in the 1998 accords that ended the province's long-running sectarian conflict.

If it is not resolved the Belfast administration may crumble, which would trigger a snap election.

Sinn Fein, which favours a united Ireland and is the largest Catholic party in the province, said it was "deeply disappointed" at the outcome, which it blamed on DUP demands for concessions on controversial Protestant parades.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein said: "I believe we have displayed extraordinary patience and commitment over the past 18 months as we sought to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party to be partners of progress."

But he said the DUP's insistence to make the abolition of the commission which manages the policing of the parades a "pre-condition" for the transfer of powers "flies in the face" of the search for unity.

DUP leader Peter Robinson, the province's top minister, maintained that his party remained committed to the devolution of policing powers, but said it would not agree to a deal until the conditions were right.

He said his party would not accept "any second rate deal simply to get across the line to suit someone else's deadline."

Mr Robinson added: "If others choose to walk away then I believe that the wrath of the community will be upon them for doing that."

Mr Brown had remained in Belfast for a third day to try to secure a deal, but returned to London, where he is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of a 60-nation conference on Afghanistan to be held today.

In a sign of the high stakes, the US urged the parties to reach agreement.