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Dr Richard Haass
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Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness
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Former US diplomat Richard Haass, assisted by Harvard professor Meghan O'Sullivan
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Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP
Marathon all-night negotiations to resolve outstanding peace process issues in Northern Ireland have failed to produce an agreement.
Talks chairman Dr Richard Haass, a former US diplomat, said he had not managed to secure consensus on a final set of proposals to deal with flags, disputed parades and the legacy of the Troubles before his end-of-year deadline.
Dr Haass said a working group made up of representatives of the five parties in Stormont's power-sharing executive would now be set up to try and find another way to build on "significant progress" that had been achieved.
Negotiators from Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party in the Executive, said they were prepared to recommend the proposals to its ruling executive, but unionists would not sign up to the document tonight.
"Yes it would have been nice to come out here tonight and say we have got all five parties completely signed on to the text, we are not there," Dr Haass said.
The last day of negotiations began around 10am yesterday and effectively carried straight through to around 5am this morning.
There was little or no progress made on flags with a proposal to set up a commission to examine the issues over a longer term.
It is understood the document also proposes the replacement of the Government-appointed Parades Commission with another set of structures to adjudicate on contentious marches.
The text also envisaged a new mechanism to oversee dealing with the legacy of the past - with a truth recovery body that would potentially offer limited immunity from prosecution to those who co-operate.
Unionists have indicated concerns with some of the language used and claimed too much focus has been placed on killings perpetrated by state forces.
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said he had an opinion on the document but would not make it public until his party had the chance to examine the proposals.
"We will have an honest debate and hopefully form a final opinion at the end of that debate," he said.
Having been given an end-of-year deadline to report, Dr Haass had aimed to strike a deal before Christmas but had to return to the US on Christmas Eve empty-handed after a marathon session of all-night negotiations last week.
Cutting short his seasonal break, he returned to the region on Saturday in a last-ditch bid to secure agreement.
Dr Haass is the president of US think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, based in New York, and was US president George W Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland from 2001 to 2003.
(Press Association)