THE BRITISH and Irish governments are maintaining high-level contacts to ensure the personal and political crisis affecting the Robinson family and the DUP does not collapse the Stormont powersharing administration.
Pressure mounted last night on Peter Robinson to step down as First Minister and DUP leader. One DUP Assembly member said there was “no hope” for Mr Robinson. Party officers and party Assembly members meet at Stormont today to consider Mr Robinson’s future.
DUP members are discussing a number of scenarios should Mr Robinson permanently or temporarily step down to allow him address the claim that he should have reported his wife’s financial dealings to the parliamentary standards authorities.
Among the proposals, according to a party source, was that former leader the Rev Ian Paisley (84) could temporarily assume leadership and the First Minister post while Mr Robinson deals with the allegations, or pending the election of a new leader and first minister. The source said while many DUP members viewed this suggestion as outlandish it should not be discounted.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown are concerned the drama affecting the Robinsons could topple the Northern Executive and Assembly.
The DUP is expected to formally announce this week that Mr Robinson’s wife, Iris, is stepping down as an MP and member of the Northern Assembly with immediate effect.
A BBC Spotlight programme reported last week that Mrs Robinson secured £50,000 from two developers to fund a business venture for a young man with whom she was having an affair.
With the Stormont institutions already under pressure from the DUP/Sinn Féin stand-off on policing and justice, Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward is due to hold talks in Dublin tomorrow with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.
Mr Woodward made it clear that Mr Robinson “must be allowed the time and space” to address his personal family issues.
“The British and Irish governments won’t allow the political process and the peace process to be put at any kind of risk. The British and Irish governments will work relentlessly to preserve the political process and the peace process. Any politician who would put that at risk will not be forgiven,” he said.
A meeting this morning of, first, party officers and then of DUP MLAs at Stormont could be critical in determining whether Mr Robinson has a chance of surviving the crisis created around his wife Iris’s financial dealings and affair with Kirk McCambley.
One DUP Assembly member told The Irish Timesthat Mr Robinson has "no hope" of staying at the helm.