Northern Ireland’s Executive Ministers will today again fail to meet as the Stormont stalemate reaches a third of a year.

Hopes of a last minute breakthrough faded last night as officials confirmed the meeting — the third successive non-event since the end of the summer recess — is unlikely to take place.

While behind the scenes talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein were said to be continuing, little progress was being reported on the key issues between them.

The four-month mark for the fortnightly meetings — the last Executive meeting was on June 19 — deepens the crisis with ministers increasingly forced to use ‘urgent procedure’ mechanisms to deal with day-to-day business.

Finance Minister Nigel Dodds said he has used the device to re-allocate unspent cash tapped by the quarterly spending round for investment in schools, the health service, housing and infrastructure.

“Sinn Fein’s continued refusal to attend meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive is creating an abnormal political situation – government by urgent procedure is not what people want to see in these trying times, but we have been left with no choice,” the DUP deputy leader said.

Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey said: “They (the DUP) demand a reduction in crime rates and an increase in detection. Yet those very same politicians are the people who are refusing to take these powers into their own hands and begin dealing with these issues. The time for DUP stalling on this issue is long since past.”