As Brian said, both the DUP and Sinn Féin are protesting “good faith”, but giving nothing away. And remember, “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. So, what’s everything this time? From Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen’s joint statement yesterday [pdf file]
We believe there is now a firm basis for the parties to:
set an early date for the completion of the final stage of devolution. We agree it would be practicable to set a date in early March for the cross-community vote and the beginning of May for the transfer of powers.
create a new justice department and define the relationship between the justice minister and the executive on an agreed, strong and sustainable footing;
benefit from the offer from the British government of £800 million of resources for a new department of justice money which is only available if agreement is reached by the parties at this time
enhance the existing framework to deal more effectively with contentious parades, learning lessons from successful local models, and enhance the framework governing parades and related public assemblies in a way that guarantees respect, dialogue, transparency and independence.
We have also put proposals for the executive to move ahead on other outstanding issues from the St Andrews Agreement.