"Northern Irish Talks On Policing & Justice Set To Continue".

Talks in Belfast between the DUP and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland have ended.

Both Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and DUP leader Peter Robinson were involved in the discussions which will continue at Stormont Castle on Friday.

Speaking beforehand, Mr Adams said the talks remained at a "serious, focused and sensitive point".

Earlier, PM Gordon Brown said it was vital for them to find a solution.

Mr Brown, who held talks in London with his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen on Thursday, said the British and Irish governments would do whatever it took to support their efforts.

He said he was hopeful that a deal could be reached, however, he added that nothing was yet certain.

"We take nothing for granted, this has been a period of great turbulence in the politics of Northern Ireland," the prime minister said.

Mr Cowen said outstanding issues between the parties were ready for agreement.

"The issues have been under discussion for some time and in our view are ready for agreement and resolution," he said.

It looks like a 3-pointed stand-off. The british, the unionists, and the republicans. What would happen if the counties that are unionist were simply annexed as a british colony and the remaining counties that are Ireland simply became Ireland, as a whole?

If the thirty two counties which originally formed Ireland before Ireland was conquered don't reform and reunite, then the Irish Republicans will never be content. In 1920, Britain partitioned Ireland based on which counties were mainly Unionist/Republican, that matches the actions of your proposal, yet since Ireland was partitioned Irish Republicans still continue to rebel because in their view, a free Ireland will never really be a free Ireland unless the entire thirty two counties are free from British rule.

That's kind of what I thought, it just seemed that point has been muted and not addressed clearly enough.

The whole Iris Robinson debacle has been great for Inter-Community relations in Northern Ireland. The DUP's "Holier Than Thou" to politics was a ticking time bomb.

It certainly looks like Sinn Féin will "walk away" from discussions on this issue, and therefore an election will be called. I want the more moderate parties to get elected as the two largest parties within Northern Ireland, and that would be the SDLP & UUP. It's obivous that the two mentioned would work much better, but unfortunately both Sinn Féin/DUP always have the "ghetto" vote so to speak.