Second day of talks go ahead on Tuesday as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Northern Ireland Prime Minister Brian Cowen try to strike a deal to keep Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government together.

The disputes between rival Northern Ireland parties the Democratic Unionist party and Sinn Fein started because of a dispute on transfer of police and justice powers from London to Belfast.

Gordon Brown is trying to intervene to keep the ties alive between the two parties as talks were at breaking point.

A spokesman for Brown said “They are determined progress can be made,”.

“The situation is serious, the issues couldn’t be more serious in terms of the future of the institutions themselves,” Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told RTE radio.