DUBLIN (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's largest Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, will meet on Friday to assess a draft deal to restore devolved government that its prospective partners in a new power-sharing arrangement earlier backed.
The region's largest pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party, said it believed the draft deal published by the British and Irish governments on Thursday provided a basis upon which the regional assembly can be re-established.
"The governments have chosen to publish this text which we have received in the last hour. We are studying the text and will give it careful consideration. The Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle (party leadership) will meet tomorrow to fully assess it," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said in a statement.