Deal reached in N. Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Lawmakers from Northern Ireland’s major Protestant party have unanimously backed a compromise plan with the Catholic minority to save their power-sharing government, Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson declared today.

Robinson, who leads the troubled 2 1/2-year-old coalition at the heart of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord, announced the midnight breakthrough following 10 days and nights of negotiations that had left negotiators on the edge of exhaustion.

The Catholics of Sinn Fein – who precipitated the power-sharing crisis by threatening to withdraw from the coalition – had already announced their backing for the still-confidential plan. But Robinson’s Democratic Unionists were publicly divided over whether to cut a new deal with Sinn Fein.

The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen, were expected to fly back to Northern Ireland today and publish full details of the new power-sharing pact.

Robinson said his party’s lawmakers “have unanimously supported the way forward. … This is a sound deal, and one that I can recommend.”

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams welcomed the Democratic Unionist approval. He said the deal would clear the way for their coalition to “proceed on the basis of equality, fairness and partnership.”