One final push for powersharing talks
An influential committee of MPs has urged the Northern Ireland Secretary to restart powersharing talks.
The two biggest parties here have been once again asked to set aside their differences and get round the table to restore powersharing.
It has been on hold since January last year after a row between coalition partners the DUP and Sinn Fein over a botched green energy scheme which has widened to include a range of identity issues like the place of the Irish language.
But a new report published on Tuesday by The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee - Devolution and Democracy in Northern Ireland: Dealing with the Deficit - has urged Secretary of State Karen Bradley to get the parties to talk - in an attempt to salvage the Assembly.
The Government has been engaged in a period of "reflection'' since the last bid to restore devolution failed earlier this year.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster said in the meantime Karen Bradley should increase the tempo of ministerial decision making and urged her to bring forward proposals for progress before the summer recess.
Committee Chair Dr Andrew Murrison said: "Karen Bradley is right to make restoring powersharing devolved government in Stormont her first priority.
"However, while the political impasse continues the list of policy obstructions and project delays grows and becomes more serious.''
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she feared "entrenchment and drift'' after the latest round of endless talks aimed at restoring the institutions ended in gridlock last winter.
Civil servants have taken over day-to-day running of public services.
A Belfast High Court judgment earlier this month blocked an incinerator plan because a senior civil servant did not have the power to approve the planning application.
Dr Murrison added: "This month's High Court judgment means inactivity in ministerial decision making, which to date has been perfectly understandable, is fast becoming untenable.''
Stormont is appealing against the judgment, seeking clarity of civil service powers, but that is likely to take months.
In the meantime, major decisions in areas like road building are stacking up.
The report said committees of Stormont Assembly members should be formed in Northern Ireland while devolved Government remains on hold.
They would adhere to the principles of powersharing which were established after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to ensure equal representation between nationalists and unionists and would reflect the make up of the elected Assembly.
MPs also urged a consultation with Assembly members to explore their role in some form of Assembly structure, beginning within a month and concluding before the summer.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said the Good Friday Agreement should not be exempt from review as the situation had changed.
"The key is consent. The whole community has to agree.''
It said if the Stormont Executive was restored, it should launch a consultation within six months on what changes could be made to strengthen the institutions.
If the Executive is not rebuilt, the Northern Ireland Secretary should consult with the parties in Northern Ireland and the Irish Government on how a review mechanism could be progressed and what the scope of that review should be, the Committee's report added.