15:39

With the odds stacked against a deal soon that would lead to the restoration of the devolved parliament in Northern Ireland and the return of power sharing government, there has been an interesting development today in the local civil service. A senior civil servant within the Northern Ireland Office has been appointed apparently with task of seeing how gay marriage equality law can be introduced into the region.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is not legal. The Democratic Unionist party, which has an influential evangelical Christian base, has used a veto power aimed at protecting minority rights in the province to shoot down attempts to introduce gay marriage equality when the Stormont assembly was up and running.

Now that the regional parliament is in suspended animation, gay rights campaigners have challenged central government in London to impose LGBT marriage equality. Love Equality - the coalition of gay rights groups, human rights organisations and trade unions - has welcomed the appointment of the civil servant to oversee a possible change in policy.

John O’Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project, said today:

