Prime Minister Theresa May will meet representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Tuesday in a bid to prop up her minority government, after the Conservatives were left eight seats short of a majority in last week's general election.
In a joint press meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, May stressed that the "timetable has not changed and negotiations will begin next week", dismissing fears of a possible delay in Brexit talks after she lost parliamentary majority in a snap general election.
Northern Ireland has been without a powersharing executive since March and without a first and deputy first minister since January, after Sinn Fein collapsed the administration amid faltering trust and relations with the DUP.
May desperately needs the DUP's 10 seats to pass legislation.
Ms May faces the task of satisfying both the pro-European and eurosceptic factions of her party, keeping Northern Ireland calm and negotiating a divorce with 27 other European Union members whose combined economic might is more than five times that of Britain.
"Discussions are going well with the government and we hope soon to be able to bring this work to a successful conclusion", Foster said on Twitter after more than an hour of talks.
Sinn Fein's Stormont leader, Michelle O'Neill, said she would raise the issue with the Prime Minister in face-to-face talks in London on Thursday.
"I'm the person who got us into this mess and I'm the one who will get us out of it", she said.
"We have worked as a party with the DUP before and those are productive talks".
Michael Gove, a former leadership rival, who was appointed environment secretary after losing his post as justice secretary in May's cabinet reshuffle past year, said the PM is the ideal candidate to lead the country through Brexit.
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After that, 10% of the vote is from 235 local representatives, and 25% from the 21,000 registered members of the party. The Sydney Morning Herald's coverage told readers that Ireland had just elected its first gay prime minister.
While May negotiates an agreement with the DUP, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, has repeatedly declared his readiness to form a minority government if she fails.
Sky's Ireland Correspondent David Blevins reports that DUP leader Arlene Foster is not returning to Belfast on Tuesday as planned, which could suggest a deal is not far away.
She added that "Brexit, counter-terrorism and doing what's right for Northern Ireland in respect of economic matters" were among the issues being discussed.
Even the idea of an alliance is complicated, however.
The unionists have struggled for years with Irish Catholic nationalists who want Northern Ireland to join a united Ireland.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement commits the United Kingdom and Irish governments to demonstrate "rigorous impartiality" in their dealings with the different political traditions in Northern Ireland. "There's no doubt about that, but perhaps an opportunity to consult more widely with the other parties on how best we can achieve it", he said at a conference in Poland.
He also said the government would "walk away" with no deal if talks broke down on ending Britain's four-decade membership of the European bloc.
He also pointed out that three months after Article 50 had been triggered, formal discussions had yet to start.
"My preoccupation is that time is passing, it is passing quicker than anyone believes because the subjects we have to deal with are extraordinarily complex..."
"We stand at a critical time with those Brexit negotiations starting only next week - I think that stability is important".
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