The Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, has appointed the Stormont Assembly's two deputy speakers to chair the Preparation for Government Committee, which is charged with preparing for the return of devolved government.
The move follows a week of deadlock between unionists, nationalists and cross-community politicians on who should chair the committee.
Deputy Speakers Jim Wells of the DUP and Francie Molloy of Sinn Féin will chair the committee which has been tasked with identifying issues ahead of the 24 November deadline for the return of a power sharing government.
Mr Molloy chaired the committee's first formal meeting at Stormont this afternoon.
An Ulster Unionist Party representative described the mood as very civilised.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness welcomed the move but said the test would be if the DUP were prepared to engage in the work of preparing for government.
The Northern Secretary stressed that the deputy speakers would chair the meetings as impartial presiding officers and not as representatives of their respective parties.
There is no Assembly business scheduled for this week but the committee will meet again in the morning.
