Committee to begin work after Hain intervention
The Stormont Committee set up by the British government to prepare the ground for a return to power-sharing in the North is due to finally get down to work today.
The committee has been established to identify the issues that need to be addressed before the parties will agree to enter a new power-sharing Executive.
However, it has failed to hold any proper meetings due to disagreement over who should chair the body.
All the other parties blamed the DUP for this failure as it had refused to co-operate with any rotating arrangement that would see Sinn Fein involved in chairing the committee.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain decided to intervene yesterday and impose the two deputy speakers of the Assembly - Sinn Fein's Francie Molloy and the DUP's Jim Wells - as joint chairmen.
