Paramilitaries need to be tackled - SDLP

The continued existence of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland needs to be addressed if the deadlock over devolution is to be broken, nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan claimed today.

Just hours after Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde blamed the IRA for the attempted abduction of a man in Belfast city centre last night, Mr Durkan said if there was to be a return to power sharing, the future of paramilitaries would have to be addressed.