The clear implication from all the Northern parties was that a generous injection of cash by London – talk was of £1 billion or so – would certainly smooth the path to a settlement of other issues outstanding in the talks. Not perhaps a line of argument, however, that suggests the talks difficulties are matters of great principle – grease my palm, they seem to say, and we will be there.
There was money on offer, in the form of loan facilities, but not enough. As First Minister Peter Robinson put it after Mr Cameron and Mr Kenny walked out: "If he wants to bribe us, to bribe us with our own money comes a bit short."
The trouble with special pleading is that as time passes, the years of violence recede – and the prospects of returning to them recede too – and as the North begins to engage in “normal” politics, such arguments become less and less persuasive. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was in classic special pleading mode: “This place here is different,” he insisted to journalists.
“This is not the north of England. This is not London. This isn’t Scotland, and this isn’t Wales.” He referred to the North as being still in post-war mode and needing a special hand, adding . . . “We have reached agreement on what this British government needs to do in budgetary terms.”
That the parties should try to leverage the desire in London and Dublin to break the current political impasse into budgetary assistance is hardly surprising nor indeed intrinsically wrong. Nor that talks should collapse on the issue. But the repeated demonstration by the Northern Executive and parties that they are not able to agree on managing the North’s affairs on the basis of available resources is also making a strong case to London for a return of powers to its remit, and questions the case for devolution of corporate taxation.
There is a very real possibility and danger that the logic of impasse and brinkmanship, most notably on welfare reform, will play out in the weeks ahead with a collapse of the Assembly and Executive. And as DUP negotiator Jeffrey Donaldson warns, both a return to direct rule and the imposition policies such as water charges that the Northern parties have so strenuously resisted.
There is still hope – the parties will go back into talks. Another heave next week before the year end brings the inevitable intrusion of pre-election posturing and megaphone diplomacy. There has been progress, reports suggest, on the past, modelled on what Richard Haass proposed this time last year. There has also been progress on slimming down the Executive and Assembly, and a possible fudge on flags and parades. Time now for all the parties to reflect seriously on how much they really value devolved power.