North ‘running out of time and choices’

Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has said the Northern parties are "running out of time and running out of choices" as the Stormont institutions move closer to collapse.

He was responding to the decision by Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson to step aside from the Executive position along with other DUP colleagues.

Mr Flanagan was in Belfast to chair , along with Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers, last-ditch talks to stave off the collapse of the Assembly and the Executive. He said last night that the weekend now represented the final opportunity for parties to reflect on the situation and engage.

He said the Irish Government was prepared to play its part.

"It's time now for all elected members of elected institutions to give it one final chance," Mr Flanagan told RTÉ in Belfast.

Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the collapse of the Northern Ireland institutions was inevitable if the Assembly was not adjourned to deal with the current political crisis.

Speaking at the opening of the Fine Gael parliamentary party think-in in Adare, Co Limerick, Mr Kenny said the Northern institutions are at "crisis point", with fresh Assembly elections a possibility.

He was speaking before the SDLP announced it would not support a DUP proposal to adjourn the Assembly, as the Taoiseach had hoped for. “The situation is in crisis mode at the moment,” Mr Kenny said. Mr Kenny and some of his ministers met the SDLP in Dublin yesterday morning and urged them to support the DUP’s moves for an adjournment.

Last night, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams criticised Fianna Fáil for its call to suspend the Assembly on a temporary basis to give space for talks. In an attack on Fianna Fáíl leader Micheál Martin, he described the move as "incredibly stupid and irresponsible".

Mr Martin had said he would reluctantly and “with regret” support a temporary suspension of the Assembly as the better of two bad options. He said it was preferable to the collapse of “the edifice”.

He was critical of both the Government for its alleged lack of engagement, and he also called for an independent monitoring body to investigate if paramilitary organisations had indeed been disbands and to explore what, if any, activities they were involved in .

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said recent events have led to a "crisis of confidence and trust" among the Northern Ireland parties.

“The Government stands ready to support the talks,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “It is a very grave situation. We have to remember it was only in December that the Stormont House agreement was reached with the support of both Governments and all the parties, so we would appeal to all the parties to come around the table and start talks.

“There is a window of opportunity here and it is very important that it is taken up. Recent events have led to a crisis of confidence and trust amongst the parties and in the institutions and we have to deal with that and urge all parties to get around the table. “

Minister for Defence Simon Coveney denied the Irish Government had not paid sufficient attention to Northern Ireland.

“Recent events have sparked this crisis of confidence that is very clear and there is an obligation on everyone to deal with those events,” he said.

“What has triggered this is the brutal murder of two individuals and a crisis of trust among the parties, so this is nothing to do with activity or inactivity by the Irish or British governments. We are very committed that the peace process remains on track. We need to talk our way through this and we want to encourage leaders in Northern Ireland to do that.

“Stormont hasn’t collapsed yet. There is now a short window of opportunity to find a new way forward to deal with the trust issues and move on with the assembly and we will try to facilitate discussions to make that happen and I can assure you there will be no lack of effort from the Irish Government.”