A special meeting is being held this afternoon by the Sinn Féin party to discuss the Stormont crisis.

The talks will focus on the continuing budgetary crisis in the North, with the devolved administration facing collapse.

Party leader Gerry Adams and deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald are attending the meeting today.

Meanwhile Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan will lead the Irish government delegation to an emergency meeting with the British and Northern Irish representatives on Tuesday.

The crisis was sparked by the failure of the assembly to pass a welfare reform bill, agreed in Westminster in 2013.

The nationalist parties at Stormont introduced a petition of concern - essentially a veto - which requires any bill to have sufficient support from both unionist and nationalist parties to go through.

By July if no agreement has been reached, it is possible the British government could take over and may impose the welfare cuts that have been applied to England and Wales.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has been hugely critical of the British government's approach to the situation in the North:

Originally posted at 8.48am