The second day of a two-day meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly at the Villa Marina has been cancelled.

It was the first time a plenary sitting of the assembly had been held on the Island, and it was scheduled for two days.

However, delegates from Southern Ireland had to return home early, because of the major financial problems in their country.

The Irish government is in crisis after the Greens, a junior party in the coalition, called for a general election.

That followed the decision to apply for a multi-billion pound bailout loan, with Britain providing ?7 billion.

Any business that wasn't dealt with today (Monday), is being held over to a meeting of the Assembly at Cork in March.