The fractious power-sharing government in Northern Ireland effectively collapsed Thursday as Peter Robinson, leader of the majority party, followed through on his threat to resign as the province’s chief executive.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was gravely concerned about the crisis which erupted when gunmen linked to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) opened fire on a former member, Kevin McGuigan, outside his Belfast home last month.
Police have said the murder of McGuigan was not sanctioned by the IRA.
The nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party have said they will oppose adjournment of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
At a news conference after the vote, Adams said Sinn Fein should not be blamed for the murder of McGuigan, who is believed to have been killed in revenge for the murder in May of another former IRA activist, Gerard “Jock” Davison. “Nobody is a member of it”. They were released without charge on Thursday night.
Commenting publicly on his arrest for the first time, Mr Storey said: “I absolutely reject the attempts of the unionist parties to cynically use these murders and my wrongful detention to threaten these political institutions”.
Intensive political talks involving the Northern Ireland parties and the British and Irish governments are due to start on Monday in a bid to rescue powersharing.
Critics say the killings show the IRA remains an active and violent paramilitary force despite the peace agreement.
Few expect a return to the armed conflict of the so-called “Troubles”, though Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein has previously warned a stalemate would “create a vacuum that would be exploited by violent elements on all sides”.
The Sinn Fein leader was speaking after Mr Storey, the party’s northern chairman, was freed unconditionally by police.
Sinn Fein immediately countered the assertions, saying the IRA no longer exists.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams warned there was a short window of opportunity to rescue the peace process from what he branded a contrived crisis.
There will be no further meetings of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive – unless there are “exceptional” circumstances – amid a political crisis over the alleged shooting of a man by the Provisional IRA. The exit of Mr Robinson along with three of the DUP’s four other ministers, and its one junior minister, has left the 13 minister administration in freefall.
Asked about Mr Kelly’s claims that the IRA did not exist and the people involved were criminals, the peer said: “He should know because they are his people that he is talking about”.
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“The people from the two roads here, the (Catholic) Falls and the (Protestant) Shankill road, they’re tolerating each other at the minute, but if this escalates, we could go back years and years”. “The important thing now is to try and find a way to repair those working relationships, to deal with issues around paramilitaries”, adding that the government in Belfast had become “dysfunctional”.
