What is Stormont and how many seats do the DUP and Sinn Fein hold in the Northern Ireland Assembly?

STORMONT in East Belfast is home to the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly, but it has been dissolved since January amid a renewable heating scandal.

Talks are ongoing to try to get the local parliament up and running again and reinstate the power-sharing DUP/Sinn Fein government - but what is it and why did it collapse?

What is Stormont and why did the local devolved administration collapse?

Stormont has been the setting for local government in Northern Ireland since the building was completed in 1932 — 11 years after the Republic of Ireland broke from the UK.

After the Troubles saw lawmaking handed to central government in London between the 70s and the 90s, in 1997 the Good Friday Agreement saw the main parties sign up to a power-sharing administration.

Initially Republican party Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party refused to play along with the new arrangement, helping spark its collapse in 2002.

But in 2007 the Assembly was reconvened and an Executive was elected, with the DUP's Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness sharing the equal posts of First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

However, in January 2017 the Executive, by then led by the DUP's Arlene Foster, was embroiled in a financial scandal and collapsed when Martin McGuinness resigned.

As part of the Good Friday Agreement, the office of the First Minister cannot run without a Deputy First Minister, so the Executive was dissolved and the Assembly suspended.

What was the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal?

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal — dubbed the "cash for ash" affair — saw an estimated £500million of public money blown on a flawed renewable energy scheme.

A DUP-led programme sought to encourage agricultural businesses to use energy efficient wood pellet boilers by paying bursaries to those who fitted them.

But there was no limit attached to how many boilers businesses could install or how many pellets they could burn.

It meant that some businesses were being paid as much as £1.50 for every £1 of fuel they burned.

The scandal led to the collapse of the Assembly as the DUP — which bases much of its support on rural protestant farmers — was accused by critics of bunging its backers with the heat scheme.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigned just weeks before his death, and Sinn Fein refused to nominate his replacement, leading to the Executive's collapse.

What was the make-up of the last Assembly and Executive?

The Assembly, which works like the House of Commons in Westminster, has 90 seats filled by MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly).

The DUP was the largest party after the 2016 local election with 28 seats, giving it the first pick at the most senior Executive roles like First Minister and Finance Minister.

Sinn Fein came second with 27 seats, giving it control of other important Executive roles like Deputy First Minister and Health.

But for the first time in 2016 other smaller parties like the UUP, SDLP and Alliance decided not to nominate MLAs to take the lesser Executive roles.

They instead decided to form an opposition to criticise joint DUP / Sinn Fein rule.

This lasted until the Assembly was dissolved in January 2017.