FOREIGN Affairs Minister Simon Coveney will be in Belfast today as the bid to restore the devolved institutions intensifies.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is expected to travel north early next week, ahead of the October 28 deadline for re-establishing an executive.
Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has warned that he will call assembly election if power-sharing is not restored.
Mr Coveney is expected to hold talks with Stormont's five main parties, including the DUP, which has been boycotting the institutions since May's election in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Talks between the EU and British government aimed at resolving difficulties around the protocol resumed last week, however, they are not expected to conclude ahead of the deadline, which is little over a fortnight away.
At the DUP conference last weekend, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party did not fear a fresh election, which without emergency legislation at Westminster is supposed to happen within 12 weeks of October 28.
Mr Coveney last night told The Irish News: "I’m taking the opportunity to meet party leaders and discuss in detail where we are in terms of government relations and efforts to get a functioning Stormont executive back.
"I’m also eager to hear from them on how they think we need to proceed to establish a functioning executive by the 28th."
