Cool heads needed until facts known

DESPITE inexorably mounting pressure on the North’s fragile power-sharing institutions, it would be a major blunder if Sinn Féin was to be summarily ejected from the Executive before the full facts are known about the party’s alleged involvement in cloak-and-dagger surveillance operations.

If charges of political espionage are upheld, then there can no longer be any doubt about the Jekyll and Hyde nature of a brand of republicanism that many perceive as a dangerous blend of democracy and deception.

Yet, any decision to precipitate the collapse of the system before such serious charges are proven would negate years of progress. Ultimately, it would be playing into the hands of extremists on both sides of the divide who are hell-bent on destroying everything that has been achieved.