Protests are planned across the North this afternoon as the region passes another unwanted landmark over its lack of a devolved administration.

It has now been 589 days since power-sharing collapsed at Stormont on January 16th 2017.

It means the region has been without a devolved Government for as long as Belgium was between 2010 and 2011 - the longest recorded peacetime period a democracy has been without a government.

The Irish and British governments have said there will be a new round of talks in the autumn in an attempt to bridge the divide between Sinn Féin and the DUP - however no new date has been set.

DUP leader Arlene Foster blames Sinn Féin for the delay - and claims she wants to get things moving.

"If Sinn Féin continues with the boycott of the Assembly and the Executive - of course, they also boycott at Westminster - then the Secretary of State is going to have to take decisions for the betterment of the people of Northern Ireland," she said.

"We cannot continue without Government in Northern Ireland."

Stormont collapse

There has been no executive at Stormont since Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness resigned his position in protest over the DUPs handling of the ‘Cash for Ash’ scandal.

The scandal revolves around Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) scheme which was designed to encourage businesses to replace older heating sources with eco-friendly alternatives.

Errors in the scheme - introduced under the watch of DUP leader Arlene Foster while she was enterprise minister – meant that subsidies exceeded the cost price of the fuel, effectively encouraging users to burn extra fuel in order to claim money.

Mrs Foster refused to stand down while an inquiry was carried out into the scandal - forcing Mr McGuinness to resign his position.

Negotiations

Well over a year-and-a-half later – and following elections in the North and in the UK as a whole – Northern Ireland is still without a powersharing executive.

The DUP and Sinn Féin have found it impossible to find common ground on a range of agreements - notably on legacy issues, citizen's rights and the Irish Language Act.

This morning, SDLP Colum Eastwood said passing the milestone is "extremely embarrassing" for the region.

"It is embarrassing that we can't have decisions taken," he said.

"We have crises in our hospitals; we have crises in our education system; jobs not getting delivered; Government contracts not being put out there - no decisions are being taken."

#WeDeserveBetter

He said politicians have now spent "probably 19 months arguing about whose fault this is."

"My view is that no number of meetings between the DUP and Sinn Féin - although if they were meeting that would be good - none of those are going to resolve the issue.

"It now needs the [Irish and UK] governments - they are the co-guarantors of our peace process and of the Good Friday Agreement - they need to step in."

This evening's #wedeservebetter protests will be held in a series of cities and towns across Northern Ireland this evening.