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Gareth Gordon
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images/Charles McQuillan

I had little to no expectations that anything would have changed and, to that extent, I have not been let down.

We still have people appealing to the DUP to end their boycott before Thursday - that doesn’t look likely to happen.

One union member said to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson that they should go back into Stormont now.

To that, he said: "You have a mandate for strike action, but we have a mandate for remaining out until we get progress that we want."

Thursday is the deadline by which Chris Heaton-Harris has to call an election if there is no restoration of devolution.

We are pretty certain he won't do that.

It is more likely he will extend the deadline.

But by how long? We don’t know.

It’s difficult to see if the Northern Ireland secretary is under that much pressure at all.

Chris Heaton-Harris adds that Windsor Framework talks with the DUP had effectively concluded and he now wants to see a return to power-sharing.

“It is hard to see any barriers to stop this from happening," he says.

“The people of Northern Ireland deserve to have the people they voted for working for them."

He says he believes "all the conditions necessary are in place for Northern Ireland politicians to govern on behalf of the people who elected them".

“It is time for the talking to finish and it is time for Stormont to get back to work," he adds.

The man who has spent Monday meeting Northern Ireland's five main parties has now emerged.

Chris Heaton-Harris says he has emphasised that it's now been 23 months that people in Northern Ireland have been without the politicians they voted for at Stormont.

He says he outlined the "generous financial £3.3bn package" which is available from day one of a restored executive.

He reminded politicians that this money would allow Stormont to give workers a pay award.

What happens if Northern Ireland's political leaders cannot restore the devolved institutions?

Doug Beattie says "we all know what plan B is going to be".

He adds that it would be "some sort of hybrid" of Stormont civil servants and the Northern Ireland Office "working together".

The Ulster Unionist Party is the last to meet Chris Heaton-Harris today.

Leader Doug Beattie says there has been “absolutely no movement whatsoever and nothing has changed”.

He likens it to a “parent-teacher evening – telling us how we were doing and where we wanted to get to and the pathway to get to it”.

“We now move to a place where the secretary of state will probably lay down primary legislation next week to show how we will govern Northern Ireland going forward without a devolved government,” he says.

“From what I was hearing, I see and hear of no movement – the £3.3bn stays on the table but it’s only linked into a return to devolved government.”

So, he says it looks like the strikes will go ahead on Thursday.

He says requests to decouple pay award money from the negotiations were unsuccessful.

Image source, PA Media

If a deal is struck between the government and Northern Ireland’s political parties, a financial package of £3.3bn is available.

BBC News NI economics and business editor John Campbell has been studying what is in the package.

It includes:

• Public sector pay - almost £600m is on offer to help settle public sector pay claims
• A freeze on Stormont’s overspend repayments - the overspend over the last two financial years is almost £560m
• Some £1.125bn of “stabilisation funding” aimed at helping strained public services will be available over the next two years

You can read more here.

Here's a reminder of how NI politics got to this point.

• NI's devolved government collapsed in February 2022 after the DUP withdrew in protest against post-Brexit trade checks.

• A new deal, the Windsor Framework, was agreed in 2023 but the DUP said it was not enough.

• A £2.5bn financial package was offered by the NI secretary in December but the DUP said NI needed more money.

• A pre-Christmas deal was talked about but then ruled out by the DUP.

• A £3.3bn financial package was then offered if Stormont could be restored.

• The UK government is aiming for the talks today to come to an agreement to restore devolved government.

Reacting to earlier news that the DUP said that progress had being made on the party's issues, Mr Eastwood says: “I have been around the block too many times to take that for granted.

“I hope we are close, and not for any political reason, but because people need a government here – there’s billions of pounds waiting to be spent.

“It’s scandalous that we are still at this point - there's nothing I can say to Jeffrey Donaldson that will change his mind.”

The SDLP has emerged from talks.

Party leader Colum Eastwood says: "We have been told before Christmas that the money is available to pay these workers, so we are in a twilight zone waiting for the DUP to make a decision and I just want them to get on with it.

“They know the arguments, that the waiting lists are out of control and people need to be paid properly.

“They've got a couple of days and I just think they should do it now."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has a clear message as the party arrives for its meeting:

"Pay these workers and pay them now before they’re forced to go on strike on Thursday."

Alliance leader Naomi Long appeals to the DUP to return to power-sharing and says she believes that progress has been made on the issues they have.

She says the restoration of Stormont might not solve all Northern Ireland's financial problems but it would be "£3.3bn closer" to solving those problems.

"Patience with Northern Ireland and with the DUP in particular at Westminster has all but expired," she adds.

"And I think the time has now come for us to take control of our own situation, start to make the difficult choices that will be required of us all in government, and start to do it now for the sake of the people we represent."

Alliance leader Naomi Long emerges from the talks and says the meeting with the Northern Ireland secretary was a constructive one.

She says the issues of looming strikes and the impact they would have was discussed.

“People are waiting to have their pay settlements negotiated and agreed and the absence of the executive is a fundamental barrier to that,” she says.

"I do not believe that people’s pay deals should be held to ransom, and if there is money available in order to resolve that issue it should be used now by the secretary of state to bring it to conclusion however that is not the view of Treasury,” she says.

“The view of government is that additional funding contingent because otherwise why would that not also settle pay claims in in England, Wales and Scotland so the exceptionality that we have is the restoration of the institutions.

“If that doesn’t have that by Thursday those people will be left with no alternative but to strike."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says if the government "doesn't intervene then it looks like the strike action will go ahead - that is not an outcome I want".

Thousands of public sector workers in Northern Ireland are calling for better pay, with teachers, healthcare workers, civil servants and bus and train drivers set to hold a mass walk out on Thursday.

"The secretary of state and the Treasury have indicated there is funding available and we're saying they should bring that forward and make those public sector pay awards," he says.

"You don’t need to have a functioning Stormont in order for the secretary to use the temporary powers that he has given to himself for that purpose.

"He has the power to set the budget and deal with this issue and he should get on and do that."

After the party's meeting with the Northern Ireland secretary, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tells the media that there has been "significant progress" made.

"We had a bi-lateral meeting - we discussed the significant progress we've made in our negotiations with the government in relation to the problems created by the Northern Ireland Protocol and the need to build upon the progress made in the Windsor Framework.

"Those discussions continue."

He added they discussed budgetary issues and the releasing of funds set aside for public sector pay.

"We want that to happen - we will continue to engage on that."

Alliance leader Naomi Long and the party's chief whip Andrew Muir engaged with trade union representatives before they headed in for a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

Mrs Long did not speak to the media on her way in, but earlier she told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster that pay issues need to be "divorced" from the current political impasse.

"Workers should not be used as leverage in the political arena," she said.

She said the NI secretary should proceed with making decisions about public sector pay.

"If local politicians are not able to do that, the secretary of state has a duty to do it," she added.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

Image source, PA Media

Chris Heaton-Harris has made it clear that this is yet another attempt to try and get the executive up and running once more, but uppermost in the minds of those people arriving here today is that mass day of strike action coming on Thursday.

Politicians got another reminder of that when they arrived for talks as many of the workers who will be on strike on Thursday stood in protest at Hillsborough to greet the politicians.

The DUP received a frosty reception on their way to meeting with the Northern Ireland secretary.

He has already said that he has the money to satisfy the pay demands of the workers but he is not going to release it until the executive as back up and running again and that doesn't sit easy with the political leaders.

In a letter, Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey says he's got a notice from more than 30 assembly members for an assembly meeting.

The meeting is due to be held on Wednesday at 12:00 GMT.

His letter says the assembly is being called to elect a speaker and deputy speakers, to appoint a first minister and deputy first minister and all other executive ministers and to debate the following motion:

“That this assembly endorses the demand for fair pay settlements for public sector workers; urges the DUP to respect the democratic outcome of the May 2022 assembly election; and emphasises the pressing need to urgently reinstate the executive to tackle the unprecedented challenges confronting citizens and our public services, particularly the immediate matter of public sector pay.”

Mr Maskey will meet party whips at 11:00 GMT on Tuesday to discuss the arrangements for the debate.

However, at the end of the notice members are reminded that only the business submitted on the notice can be dealt with at this recall and if the assembly is unable to elect a speaker and deputy speakers, it cannot proceed to debate the motion.

Jackie Bartley and Dr Graham Gault of the National Association of Headteachers NI have been speaking outside the gates of Hillsborough Castle.

Ms Bartley says they were wanting to ensure children are represented and teachers get "fair pay for everything that they do every single day".

Dr Gault said his message to the DUP was: "You brought this on the people, you have to remove any blockage now and bring this deal so that fair pay can be delivered across all public services."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has called for a better financial package for any incoming ministers.

Shortly before the DUP's arrival, Michelle O'Neill is asked whether she felt there had been progress in relation to the previous talks in December.

"No, I think it is fair to say there wasn't anything that gave us any chink of light, if you want to describe it as that," she says.

"That being said, we still think there is an opportunity for the DUP to step up to the plate.

"There is an opportunity for them to end their boycott and an opportunity for the DUP to join the rest of us and form an executive."