Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accused Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams of trying to “spread the blame” for the failure of talks to restore power-sharing at Stormont. In the Dáil, Mr Varadkar said Mr Adams sounds “like somebody who has already given up” on the talks, and is blaming “stubborn elements in political unionism.” Mr Adams replied: “I never give up.”

Ulster Unionist Party MLA, Steve Aiken told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme that he believes Northern Ireland is heading towards direct rule. If a DUP-Sinn Féin Executive cannot be formed, he said a “voluntary coalition” at Stormont should be considered. SDLP MLA, Colin McGrath, said he likes the idea of a voluntary coalition but it is unlikely that Sinn Féin and the DUP would agree to it.

A lawyer for the suspended Stormont Executive revealed in the supreme court that abortion reform in Northern Ireland was recommended by an Executive report kept under wraps for almost a year. The lawyer admitted that a working group set up by the departments of justice and health concluded that abortion should be made available in hospitals here in the cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

The British government’s attempt to lobby individual EU leaders ahead of the recent ‘crunch’ EU summit actively damaged Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes of a better outcome, according to a report by the Guardian. EU leaders agreed that sufficient progress had not been made on the summit’s three opening issues – citizens rights, the Irish border and the financial settlement – for trade talks to begin.

The UK government is reportedly ready to scrap its blanket ban on prisoners being allowed to vote, 12 years after the European court of human rights ruled that it was unlawful. As revealed by the Sunday Times, the government is planning to allow prisoners serving a sentence of less than a year who are let out on day release to be allowed to go home to vote.

Also published on Medium.