17:27

It looks like the talks to restore devolution back to Northern Ireland are in deep trouble this evening. The problem hinges on Sinn Fein demands for an Irish Language Act which the party claims the Democratic Unionists have failed to move on.

Declan Kearney, Sinn Fein’s national chairman, came out of negotiations at Stormont this evening said that only a “stand alone” Irish Language Act that excludes other languages spoken in Northern Ireland was acceptable. Kearney claimed that the DUP was blocking that “stand alone” Act. He accused the DUP of being in “default” in meeting longstanding commitments to an Irish Language Act.

Naomi Long, the leader of the cross community Alliance party, said the prospects now of a deal before the 29 June deadline for creating a new power sharing executive were “incredibly bleak.”

If the talks fail the Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has two choices: either re-impose direct rule and allow London ministers to hand out the extra more than £1bn from the DUP-Tory deal; or else allow civil servants to run devolved regional ministries up until the autumn when a new talks process could be called.