North in Crisis: UUP to quit Stormont as Executive plunged into turmoil

The North’s power-sharing Executive has been plunged into fresh crisis as the fallout from claims the Provisional IRA still exists intensifies.

Following another dramatic day of claim and counter-claim which saw Tánaiste Joan Burton accuse the disbanded paramilitary group of morphing into a “mafia-style organisation”, the Ulster Unionists announced their intent to walk away from Stormont saying “trust in Sinn Féin had been shattered by the revelations”.

Party leader Mike Nesbitt said the UUP will not stay in a power-sharing agreement when “the IRA are murdering and Sinn Féin are ignoring it”, and that its one minister — regional development minister Danny Kennedy — will step down next week.

While the move by one of the three minor coalition partners will not automatically trigger the collapse of the administration, it throws its future into serious doubt as pressure will now mount on the region’s largest party, the Democratic Unionists, to follow suit.

However, the North’s deputy first minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, last night claimed the “feigned concern” is more about inter-unionist rivalry than genuine criminality and racketeering concerns.

The escalating political row — which brings a fresh dimension to the ongoing controversy — was played down by Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan last night, who said the “interests and welfare of the people of Northern Ireland are best served by an inclusive power-sharing Executive”.

His party colleague, Defence Minister Simon Coveney, also moved to stress he hoped all Stormont parties are “mature” enough to continue to back the peace process, while Northern Ireland’s secretary of state Theresa Villiers said Britain’s government “remains fully committed to the devolved political institutions”.

However, despite the attempts to calm tensions, the UUP move is likely to mean the Provisional IRA controversy will now impact on the wider political situation in the North — intensifying scrutiny as a result.

The UUP decision to step back from Stormont came as Michael McDowell, the Republic’s justice minister at the time of the 2005 provisional IRA decommissioning, revealed the then government agreed to allow an “unarmed and withering husk” of the group to continue to lessen the risk of a fresh armed split.

However, Defence Minister Simon Coveney rejected suggestions the revelation undermines Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s call for the garda commissioner to examine whether the provisional IRA still exists in any form as senior civil servants knew it continued a decade ago.

Mr Coveney and Tánaiste Joan Burton said they believed the review will be completed “relatively quickly” and before the general election, a position which would suit both coalition parties.

However, a Department of Justice spokesperson said it is “not possible” to outline any timeline as a PSNI inquiry into the murders is ongoing and — as revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner — a review will only take place if a link is found.

Meanwhile, Ms Burton has accused Sinn Féin of ignoring the fact the Provisional IRA has morphed into a “mafia-style organisation”, adding pointedly: “dried-out husks don’t murder people”.

In a move that has added yet more layers to the controversy, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin last night called for an “urgent” meeting between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and British prime minister David Cameron to address the Provisional IRA revelations.

However, a government spokesperson would only say the “relevant” ministers will meet Northern Ireland’s secretary of state Theresa Villiers “in the coming days”.

In his first detailed comments on the controversy in his weekly column for a nationalist Belfast newspaper, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said the Provisional IRA no longer exists, even in a “benign” criminal gang form, and that his party has “no special responsibility” to end the crisis.

In a separate development last night, Garda Commissioner Nóirín O Sullivan made her first official comments on the dispute, saying the gardaí has never said the Provisional IRA no longer exists.

Responding to what she said were media reports suggesting the police force has previously contradicted this view, Ms O’Sullivan said “the International Monitoring Commission has not indicated at any time that PIRA had ceased to exist, nor has An Garda Síochána”.

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