A deal to restore political power-sharing in Northern Ireland is possible in the coming weeks, thanks in part to the prospect of significant investment in the North, the US ambassador to London said on Tuesday.
Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government for more than 18 months after the UK's departure from the European Union destabilised politics in the North.
The United States, which helped to negotiate the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, has promised corporate investment from US businesses if the power-sharing agreement can return.
"It's important to watch the next six weeks," Ambassador Jane Hartley told Reuters. "We're in a timeframe where stuff could happen."
Britain agreed new trading terms with the EU earlier this year, giving businesses in Northern Ireland access to both European and British markets. But an ongoing need for checks on some goods moving between the North and Britain has angered the DUP.
A US business delegation dispatched to Northern Ireland by US president Joe Biden last week talked up the bespoke post-Brexit arrangements, but Ms Hartley said companies needed to see political stability before they could invest.
"I've said, you know, this is a business delegation, but you can have much, much, much more. Because if you talk to large companies, they do care about political stability, and they do care about having a government."
Ms Hartley said the Northern Irish parties did understand that, after she met the different leaders recently. "I think there is communication going on. I think the UK government is supporting that and promoting that," she said.
Britain's Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told Reuters earlier this month that he was optimistic a formula could be found to persuade the DUP to return to government.
