The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has said it now looks like an election in the North is inevitable.

Charlie Flanagan is holding a series of talks with political parties at Stormont in Belfast today.

He said: “I believe an election is much closer. The Secretary of State on Monday, in my view, will be left with no choice but to dissolve the Assembly and announce an election.

“There is a window of opportunity, albeit extremely narrow. I believe we are facing into an electoral contest and the Irish Government is very conscious of the need to protect the institutions and also the integrity of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.”

He also predicted an extremely difficult challenge in putting together a Northern Ireland Executive after the public go to the polls.

Northern Ireland Secretary of State James Brokenshire is set to call the election at the start of next week.

The DUP has called for fresh negotiations to avoid a “brutal” contest but Sinn Féin insisted the matter should be placed before the people.

Today, a Democratic Unionist minister reversed his controversial decision to cut an Irish language initiative in what some have interpreted as an olive branch.

DUP Communities Minister Paul Givan’s decision to cut a £50,000 bursary to pay for children to visit Irish-speaking communities – the Gaeltacht – infuriated Sinn Féin and has been seen as a key factor in the republican party’s decision to pull the plug on the power-sharing institutions.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Mr Givan said: “My decision on the Liofa Bursary Scheme was not a political decision.

“I have now identified the necessary funding to advance this scheme.”

After meeting the parties Mr Brokenshire said: “The reality remains, the high probability remains, that we are heading towards an election.”