First Minister’s wife decision to quit shocks political party

THE decision by the wife of Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson to quit politics because of a battle with mental illness shocked her Democratic Unionist Party, it was revealed yesterday.

Some of Iris Robinson’s closest associates, were unaware of her plans to withdraw from public life until she made the announcement, according to party sources.

“It came right out of the blue,” said one. “Hardly anybody had advance warning this was going to happen.”

A meeting of the party officers will be held to discuss the decision, possibly later this week.

It expected she will stay on as MP for Strangford until the election next year, but her position at the Northern Ireland Assembly where she was once chairperson of the health committee, is likely to be filled as soon as possible.

In a statement last night Mrs Robinson, 60, a mother-of-three, and an MP since 2001 said she had suffered serious bouts of depression. She added: “The stress and strain of public life comes at a cost and my health has suffered.”

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward paid tribute to her work as an MP.

Mrs Robinson has been at the centre of two major controversies this year – her criticism of homosexuals and revelations that she and her husband who is also MP for east Belfast draw more than £500,000 (€554,000) a year in salaries and expenses, which includes payments to four members of the family on their staffs.

She provoked outrage among the gay community when she claimed homosexuality was an abomination which made her feel sick. She was labelled “Wicked witch of the north”. But despite the criticism, Mrs Robinson remained defiant.

In her statement last night she said: “Only those who have faced similar challenges in life will know the ordeal faced by those who are profoundly depressed and the distress caused to those around them as they grapple with personality changing illness.”