Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has called for “urgent” talks with the Taoiseach and the British prime minister over the current Stormont crisis.
First Minister Peter Robinson met British prime minister David Cameron in Downing Street last night after failing in an attempt to suspend Stormont to allow dedicated negotiations to take place.
Mr McGuinness also warned yesterday that if Stormont fell “it would create a vacuum which would be exploited by violent elements on all sides”.
He again condemned last month’s killing of Belfast republican Kevin McGuigan, saying it was carried out by “low-life criminals who are attempting to destroy this peace process and who are absolutely no friends of the Sinn Féin leadership”.
Mr McGuinness also again rejected PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton’s assessment the IRA still exists and some of its members were implicated in the murder of Mr McGuigan, albeit without the sanction of the IRA leadership.
“I am working on the basis that the IRA have left the stage and present no problem whatsoever, that they are gone and gone forever, and have handed over responsibility for moving politics forward to the politicians here,” he said outside Stormont Castle.
Mr McGuinness said it was a time for political leadership. “We will contribute in whatever way we can to find a resolution of the present difficulties.”
Mr McGuinness was critical of Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt's decision to withdraw his Minister Danny Kennedy from the Executive.
‘Fast and loose’
“It is really about the Ulster Unionists trying to gain advantage over the DUP and an attempt to play fast and loose with the peace process and bring about a situation where the DUP effectively walk out and abandon these institutions,” he said.
“If that happened it would represent a massive failure of leadership. It would leave a vacuum . . . and a very real prospect of an increase in violence on our streets.”
Earlier Mr Robinson told The Irish Times comprehensive talks should address not only Mr Hamilton's assessment about the IRA but the implementation of the stalled Stormont House Agreement.
Asked what Sinn Féin could deliver to get politics back on track, Mr Robinson replied it would be dealt with in the intensive talks he has requested. He said the current arrangements on dealing with paramilitaries were “inadequate”.
“Here we are in 2015 and the paramilitary organisations are still in place, and all the paraphernalia around that. Criminality and terrorist activity has to be brought to an end. We have to tackle these issues,” he said.
“That should be the task of all democratic politicians.”
