The Irish and British governments begin a new round of talks with Northern Ireland's political parties today, in an effort to address the problems in the peace process.

For several months the parties in the power-sharing executive at Stormont have struggled to find agreement on a range of issues.

These include the allocation of its reduced funding from Westminster and the issues of flags, parades and how to deal with the past which remain unresolved after negotiations chaired by Richard Haass last year.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan will travel to Belfast today for the cross party meeting.

At the end of last year, Former US diplomat Richard Haass chaired negotiations which centred on the controversial issues of parades, flags and the legacy of past conflict.

The flags issue proved the most contentious, with a fourth draft document of proposals brought under scrutiny.