DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson says party may move to exclude Sinn Fein from Executive

THE DUP could bring down the power sharing government over the PSNI assessment that the Provisional IRA leadership remains intact, an MP has warned.

Yesterday, the UUP announced it was pulling Roads Minister Danny Kennedy out of the Executive subject to ratification on Saturday by its ruling executive.

A DUP delegation is due to meet Secretary of State Theresa Villiers today over the political crisis engulfing Stormont following the IRA murder of Kevin McGuigan a fortnight ago.

Speaking ahead of the crunch talks, DUP Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would move to exclude Sinn Fein from the Stormont Executive.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is only the DUP who can deal with this issue now”.

Mr Donaldson added: “The only people who were punished by what Mike Nesbitt has done here are the people who vote for his party as they are now excluded from the government.

“We are going to move to exclude Sinn Féin from the government.

“In the end, if the other parties are not prepared to support the exclusion of Sinn Féin, then we will act unilaterally, and if that means that we have a period in Northern Ireland where we don’t have a government until we resolve and sort out these issues then so be it.”

As the crisis deepens, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern cautioned against collapsing the Executive and said it was “time for cool heads”.

The political row erupted after PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said last Saturday that the Provisional IRA still existed and some of its members were involved in the murder of 53-year-old Kevin McGuigan.

Sinn Fein have rejected the PSNI’s assessment with party president Gerry Adams saying that the “IRA has gone and it not coming back”

Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly accused the the UUP of creating a “crisis”.

He said the party was “playing politics and electioneering”.

Speaking at a debate in Derry last night, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said he believed “the Sinn Fein leadership was committed to peace”.