Paisley ultimatum as Assembly meets

The Rev Ian Paisley tonight warned Sinn Féin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair there would be no cabinet seat for republicans in a future power sharing government of Northern Ireland unless the IRA had gone out of business.

After the new Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time since devolution was suspended three and a half years ago, the North Antrim MP said: “If I could get the last drop of blood from the republican stone, then I would do it.