Two key Alliance meetings could decide if the party can prevent the Stormont stalemate over policing and justice from developing into a crisis.

The party’s council, its most representative body, is due to meet on Thursday, September 6, followed by an executive meeting the next Wednesday.

But senior figures have made clear the party has to be approached by the DUP and Sinn Fein over the prospect of Alliance taking the Justice Ministry, even temporarily.

The move could cause consternation in Alliance ranks, which has styled itself as heading an informal ‘opposition’ within the Assembly and has been heavily |critical of the Executive it would be joining.

The party was also already offered the Justice Ministry during almost three days of negotiations at St Andrews in Scotland which lead to the restoration of devolution in May of last year.

But though Alliance would have had the responsibility of the Policing and Justice portfolio, the party was not being given voting rights at Executive meetings — and turned the offer down.

Rank and file members will be conscious that twice in the last administration, which was led by Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, Alliance rode to the rescue and thwarted collapse, once re-designating as unionists to facilitate the return of Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister.

The re-designation debacle lead to near-disaster for the party in the 2003 Assembly election.

Though it narrowly retained all its seats, the Alliance vote slumped by 2.8% of the total vote to 3.7% and the leader, David Ford, scraping through in South Antrim by a mere 180 votes.

Now the party says it needs to see the detail of anything that is on offer from the DUP and Sinn Fein, and it will have to be significantly different from the package at St Andrews in October 2006.

Deputy leader Naomi Long said: “It is not unusual that people look to the Alliance Party during a crisis.

“But the idea of us being offered the Policing and Justice Department has been floated about for a number of years.

“There was serious discussion at St Andrews about this idea but the legislation that came out of the talks ruled this possibility out.”

The East Belfast MLA added: “Neither the DUP nor Sinn Fein have seriously discussed this issue with us and until such time as they do, we will not conduct a discussion through the press. If they are serious about the issue then they should come to us at the earliest opportunity.”

Her comments came after both the DUP and Sinn Fein confirmed they are considering proposals which would permit Alliance to be allocated the Justice position.

Respective junior ministers Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP and Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly — once tipped for the Justice post — said discussions over the option were on-going.

Under the d’Hondt system for allocating Executive seats, however, the Justice Ministry would fall to the SDLP.

That, however, could be over-ruled by a cross-community vote in the Assembly.

The change would require new legislation put through Parliament but Gordon Brown is understood to have signalled, with meetings last week involving Peter Robinson and Gregory Campbell, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, that this could be allowed if their two parties reach agreement.

“It is all hypothesis at the moment,” an Alliance source said.

“We need to see the detail of what is on offer, so the ball is in the other parties’ court.”

A three-month hiatus in Executive meetings is developing because of a stand-off between Sinn Fein and the DUP over policing and justice, and other issues including countryside planning, the future of the Maze stadium and an Irish language act.