Northern Ireland could witness a return to powersharing on Friday after a dramatic night of developments in political efforts to resurrect devolution.
The UK and Irish governments jointly published a suggested deal late on Thursday and urged the five main parties to sign up and re-enter the institutions.
This came as Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith wrote to the speaker of the defunct Assembly requesting him to convene a sitting on Friday – so issuing a challenge to the parties to turn up and get back to business.