Talks to restore Northern Ireland government break down

LONDON (AP) — The leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest political party says talks to restore the collapsed Belfast government have failed.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster says negotiations with Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein to restore the power-sharing government “have been unsuccessful.”

Northern Ireland’s Catholic-Protestant government has been suspended since January 2017, when it broke down amid a scandal over a botched green-energy project.

The two parties have blamed each other for the impasse that threatens power-sharing, the key achievement of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord.

Foster’s surprise statement Wednesday comes just two days after the British and Irish prime ministers visited Belfast to urge the parties to make a deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday “there is the basis of an agreement” to restore the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.