DUP 'will not be browbeaten into sharing power'

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson has reiterated that his party will not enter any power-sharing arrangement with Sinn Féin until it is ready to do so.

The hardline unionist party is currently coming under pressure to end its boycott on power-sharing in the wake of the IRA's declaration of an end to its armed struggle.

An Independent Monitoring Commission report due out this week is expected to say that the IRA is living up the promise.

Northern Secretary Peter Hain has said this will mean the DUP can no longer use IRA activities as an excuse for refusing to govern alongside republicans.

However, speaking as he prepared to the address a meeting of the British-Irish Inter-parliamentary Body in Co Kerry today, Mr Robinson said the DUP would not be changing its stance until it was certain the IRA had ceased to exist.

"We'll go about our business," he said. "We will not be browbeaten by governments. We have a specific view as to what has to be done and we will move when that's done."