DUP leader suggests powersharing deal will have to wait until Autumn

By David Young and Andy Woodcock,

Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster has said she is disappointed an agreement to restore powersharing has not been reached in Northern Ireland, suggesting a deal will now have to wait until at least the autumn.

Mrs Foster expressed frustration as talks wound up at Stormont Castle, Belfast without a breakthrough.

It is expected the process will now be effectively parked over the summer months, to resume in the autumn.

"We are disappointed we don't have an agreement this afternoon," said the DUP leader.

Mrs Foster said her party would continue to work on issues over the summer, but acknowledged the intensity of engagement would drop during the holiday period.

"We are going to keep working at it through the summer and hopefully we can come to an agreement later on in the year," she said.

"We are certainly up for an agreement, we are up for devolution."

The DUP and Sinn Fein, the two parties whose sign-off is required to form a devolved government, remain at loggerheads over a range of issues.

Sticking points include the shape of legislation to protect Irish language speakers, the DUP's opposition to lifting the region's ban on same-sex marriage, and mechanisms to deal with the legacy of the Troubles.

Earlier, Sinn Fein sources made clear an agreement was not going to materialise in the short term.

While MLAs have not been sitting in Parliament Buildings since March's snap election, the Assembly's official summer recess starts on Friday.

Next week will also witness the "Twelfth of July" - the key fixture in the Protestant loyal order marching season.

Negotiations were always unlikely to succeed if they stretched into mid-July, when they would be framed against the backdrop of the heightened community tensions that traditionally surround the Orange Order commemorations.

On Monday, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire said he felt a powersharing executive could still be established this week.

His optimism was not shared by the parties at Stormont, with the DUP and Sinn Fein continuing to blame each other for the impasse.

The devolved institutions imploded in January when Mrs Foster was forced from office after Sinn Fein's then deputy first minister, the late Martin McGuinness, quit.

That was in protest at the DUP's handling of the renewable heat incentive (RHI), a botched scheme that left the administration facing a £490 million overspend.

Mr McGuinness's move triggered March's snap Assembly poll and subsequent months of faltering negotiations to restore a devolved government.