The DUP said it will meet the British prime minister David Cameron soon to try to avert the collapse of Stormont institutions after the Ulster Unionist Party decided to withdraw from the Northern Executive.
The controversy has intensified since the PSNI linked the murder of Belfast republican Kevin McGuigan to the Provisional IRA.
Last night former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said it was "time for cool heads" and a calm focus on the peace process to ensure the Stormont institutions remain standing.
“The bigger picture is the ongoing peace process,” said Mr Ahern. “It is always delicate. Cool nerves . . . think this through. It is terrible, there are atrocities, but are those atrocities being done [by people] who might have been on the inside but are now long since on the outside?”
He warned of the dangers of political collapse. “There is a small dangerous group who does not want to see the spirit or the progress of the Good Friday agreement implemented,” said Mr Ahern. “Nothing should be done that creates a vacuum that allows them to expand and grow.”
Following apparent differences between the PSNI and the Garda over whether Provisional IRA structures continue to exist, the Garda Commissioner Noírín O’Sullivan issued her first statement on the matter. She said the Garda has never denied the Provisional IRA’s existence but it had no intelligence or information that it “still maintains its military structure”.
She said the Garda keeps its security assessments under constant review.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s office said he was “fully abreast of all developments”. A spokeswoman said: “The relevant Ministers are meeting Secretary of State Villiers in the near future and the situation continues to be monitored closely.”
Former US senator Gary Hart, a personal representative to US secretary of state John Kerry, said: “The United States encourages all of Northern Ireland’s parties to continue to engage in dialogue to sustain and improve the functioning of Northern Ireland’s government. We strongly support Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions created by the Good Friday agreement and St Andrews agreement.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said he respected the UUP's right to make its own judgments, but he believed "the interests and welfare of the people of Northern Ireland are best served by an inclusive powersharing Executive, as envisaged in the Good Friday agreement".
Announcing the withdrawal of his party from the Northern Executive, UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton's assessment that IRA members were involved in the killing of Mr McGuigan and that the IRA was still in existence had "shattered" unionist trust in Sinn Féin.
He said Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’s insistence that the IRA had “gone away” lacked “credibility”.
Mr Nesbitt's move has put pressure on the DUP to follow suit with Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister querying if the DUP would "be the only unionist party, for the sake of office, turning a blind eye to murder".
While it will now be difficult for the DUP to remain in the Executive with Sinn Féin, senior DUP sources made clear the party would not be “bounced” into precipitately walking out of the Executive by the UUP decision.
