DUBLIN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Irish and British governments are planning talks involving all major parties in Northern Ireland in order to bring back to life the Northern Ireland Assembly that has stopped functioning for more than two years, the Irish semi-state owned media RTE reported on Thursday.

The announcement of the planned talks will be made at a joint press conference to be held in Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, on Friday afternoon, said the report, adding that Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley will host the press conference.

The report quoted unidentified sources as saying that the talks between the two governments are expected to begin after the local elections in Northern Ireland which will kick off next week, but prior to the European Parliament election which will be held towards the end of May.

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Britain's Northern Ireland which has power to legislate in areas that are not explicitly reserved to the British parliament. It also has the power to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. The legislature is currently under suspension after it collapsed in January 2017 mainly due to the policy disagreements between the two major political parties, namely Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, within the assembly.

Efforts had been made to restore the assembly over the last two years or so, but they all failed. Enditem

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