Sinn Fein backing paves way for new N.Ireland devolved government

The two main Irish nationalist and pro-British unionist parties in Northern Ireland agreed on Friday to return to devolved government for the first time in three years.

Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party, followed their rivals in the Democratic Unionist Party in backing a draft deal brokered by the Irish and British governments to end the assembly's longest suspension in 13 years.

"The Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle (party leadership) has met today and decided to re-enter the power-sharing institutions. We now have a basis for power-sharing and we're up for that," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald told a news conference.