St Andrews Agreement

The government's plan envisaged the devolution of policing and justice powers within two years from the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that the plans needed to be consulted on, but restoring the political institutions was an "enormous prize".

Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan said welcome progress had been made towards restoring the power sharing institutions.

When the Assembly met on 24 November, Ian Paisley said that "circumstances have not been reached that there can be a nomination or a designation this day", adding that "if and when commitments are delivered, the DUP would enter government".

If the ministerial offices could not be filled on that date, the Act required the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to make an order dissolving the Assembly, and the St Andrews Agreement would fall.

Or if this does not happen within the St Andrews time frame, only when acceptable new partnership arrangements to implement the Good Friday Agreement are in place."

Peter Hain signed the order to restore the institutions on 25 March, warning that if the parties failed to reach agreement by midnight the following day, the Assembly would be closed down.

In the weeks following the agreement between Paisley and Adams, the four parties – the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP – indicated their choice of ministries in the Executive and nominated members to fill them.

On 8 December 2007, while visiting President George W. Bush in the White House with the Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness, the deputy First Minister, said to the press: "Up until the 26 March this year, Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything — not even about the weather — and now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there's been no angry words between us.