Could Northern Ireland’s power-sharing deadlock finally be over?

Attempts by the government to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party to rejoin Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions seems to be reaching an endgame. The main unionist party has been blocking normal business since last year, and the strain on public services is becoming unbearable. The situation also makes it ever more difficult to revive political cooperation and prevent anything like a return to the Troubles.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, has been unusually outspoken and optimistic about the situation. He says there is an “ever-diminishing number of questions that we have to answer from the DUP”.

However, he added: “I’m not going to set a timeline to it… we are in the final stages. I could go further… I could say we are in the final, final stages of this.”