The first hurdle will be easily overcome, but the second is far more difficult, tied as it is to overall agreement on devolution.

BBC: Gerry Adams

Mr McGuinness said it was now up to the British and Irish governments to defend the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement, on which devolution is based.

BBC: Premiers discuss NI sanctions rift

Following the Good Friday Agreement and the eventual devolution of power to Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein appointed Denis Donaldson as their key administrator in the party's Stormont offices.

BBC: Obituary: Denis Donaldson

If devolution is suspended for an unlimited period, it is likely the government will start a review of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, on which devolution is based.

BBC: David Trimble arriving at Stormont for a series of meetings

MPs voted by 318 to 10 to back devolution after Ian Paisley's anti-agreement Democratic Unionist Party forced a vote on the transfer of power.

BBC: News Online

The head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, said he also welcomed the news agreement has been reached on the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly and on a range of other issues.

BBC: Reaction: Policing and justice

It was promised in the UK coalition agreement - a commission to examine the case for the devolution of taxation powers to Wales, as well as a possible widening of the subject areas currently devolved.

BBC: Enthusiasm trickling down on devolution in Wales

The five-party coalition had entered office on the back of a series of confidence-building initiatives agreed by the previous interim government, which included a cross-party agreement on the 2008 budget and a modest package of devolution measures.

ECONOMIST: The woeful state of Belgian politics