**A second day of talks to avert a crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process is to begin on Tuesday morning.**Gordon Brown and Irish premier Brian Cowen have been brokering talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein to avoid the collapse of power-sharing at Stormont.
The talks focus on the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Discussions lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning with the two main parties leaving at about 0330 GMT.
They are set to resume between 0900 and 1000 GMT on Tuesday.
The Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and the Alliance Party were also at Hillsborough Castle.
Late on Monday night, it’s understood the two governments were holding private meetings with DUP and Sinn Fein negotiating teams while senior party figures from the other parties were briefed on progress.
Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party - Northern Ireland’s two biggest political parties - have been arguing for months over the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.
Sinn Fein want the completion of devolution to happen as soon as possible, but the DUP argue there must be unionist “community confidence” before powers are put in the hands of local politicians.
ANALYSIS
Mark Simpson, BBC Ireland correspondent There’s no prospect of a return to full-scale violence, but there is a full-scale political crisis.
The arrival in Northern Ireland of the two prime ministers is a sure sign that trouble is brewing. The blunt reality is there’s no sign yet of any progress being made in the talks.
The equation is pretty simple - no deal means no devolution.
If these talks don’t succeed, it’s difficult to see how the Stormont Assembly will survive.Q&A: Breakthrough or breakdown
The “confidence” issue causing most division is over the handling of parades.
The DUP wants to scrap the Parades Commission, which puts conditions on some of the most contentious marches, but Sinn Fein has accused them of giving the Orange Order a talks veto.
While Sinn Fein said they were still holding out for a firm devolution date, the DUP again insisted they required concessions on how loyalist order parades were managed before they agreed to the transfer.
Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen said they were confident the remaining issues could be dealt with.
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said the process was reaching an “endgame”.
Sinn Fein minister Conor Murphy emerged from the talks insisting that his party wanted an agreements that would ensure partnership and equality between republicans and unionists at Stormont.
"We want to see an agreement here. We want to see the institutions working properly.
“But they can only work properly if we have partners in these institutions who are willing to work them.”
Speaking outside the talks, DUP MP Sammy Wilson said Sinn Fein had created a “contrived crisis”.
“Despite the way it has been handled, we are still open to resolving the outstanding issues,” he said.
“It makes it darn more difficult in this atmosphere of crisis to get some kind of resolution - these things are much better done by people sitting down calmly, seeing where the problems are and what compromises can be made.”
‘Sword of Damocles’
Speaking as he left the talks, Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said the two premiers were making a “big effort”.
“They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t think the situation was serious, but equally we have been here before,” he said.
“I have to stress conducting negotiations with the sword of Damocles hanging over your head is not the best way to do business.”
SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell said that aside from the issue of policing and justice the governments should address the “dysfunctionality” of the Northern Ireland Executive.
“We urged the prime minister and the taoiseach (Irish prime minister) to ensure that since they’ve taken the bother to come here this time that they do it right that there is not a cobbled solution that breaks down again in six months time,” he said.
Mr Brown has postponed Tuesday’s cabinet meeting until later in the week.
Talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein had intensified in recent weeks, before collapsing in acrimony last week.
If Sinn Fein were to decide Martin McGuinness should resign as deputy first minister, the joint nature of the roles of first and deputy first ministers would mean that DUP leader Peter Robinson would also be forced out of office, collapsing the executive.