DUP boycott Northern Executive pending talks

First Minister Peter Robinson has said the DUP will boycott the Northern Executive pending the outcome of talks beginning on Tuesday designed to end the crisis over murder of Belfast republicanKevin McGuigan, and also over welfare deadlock.

Mr Robinson said that the Executive would only meet in “exceptional circumstances” while the talks involving the British and Irish governments and the North’s five main parties are taking place.

The First Minister also threatened “as a last resort” to resign from the Northern Executive and to bring his Ministers with him. While such a move should prompt Assembly elections Mr Robinson made clear the DUP would not engage in any new administration unless it could be fully functioning.

Mr Robinson announced his move at noon after the Assembly business committee rejected his call for today’s return of the Assembly to be postponed until these talks were completed.

"As a first step there will be no further meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive unless we deem there are exceptional circumstances. In addition there will be no North South Ministerial meetings in any format. Our Ministers shall be focused on the talks process and attempting to get the best outcome for our community," said Mr Robinson.

“We have already welcomed the talks process which should be serious and sustained in nature. If we are not satisfied that parties are applying themselves to achieving an outcome in a reasonable timeframe we will initiate a further step,” he added.

“If it becomes apparent to us that a satisfactory resolution in the talks is not possible then, as we indicated in our earlier statement, as a last resort Ministerial resignations will follow,” said Mr Robinson.

“However, we must make it clear that any election that follows such an eventuality will not be an election to return to the present Assembly arrangements, as we will not nominate a First Minister until a fundamental and more wide-ranging negotiation produces a system that can fully function.

"The present Assembly has been blocked from delivering for over two years because Sinn Fein and the SDLP would not take difficult financial decisions."

Mr Robinson said that the DUP was committed to engaging in the talks in a “positive and diligent manner” and would seek to see the “Stormont House Agreement implemented and the issue of paramilitaries dealt with comprehensively”.

Mr Robinson said that the PSNI’s “impartial advice that the murder of Kevin McGuigan involved members of the Provisional IRA who are associated with Sinn Fein brought about a watershed moment in the operation of the Northern Ireland Assembly”.

“All the parties had previously agreed that it is inconsistent with membership of the Executive to be linked to those participating in terrorist or criminal behaviour.

“However the rules relating to handling this set of circumstances are deficient and a sanction could not be imposed on Sinn Fein for this breach,” he added.

Mr Robinson said the DUP was not prepared to continue as if nothing has happened. “A man has been murdered at the hands of those linked to a party of government,” he added.

“This is unacceptable. Indeed we believe that the association with Sinn Fein is much greater than that so far revealed. If further revelations occur it will be hard for those who want ‘business as usual’ at Stormont to justify their position.”