Mr Robinson added: “We need to know exactly whether they are collecting intelligence, whether there is any weaponry being brought in, whether there is a recruiting going on (and) what activities are they involved in”.
Advertisement
The PSNI said there was no evidence to suggest that the killing was ordered by the IRA, but the unionist parties seized on the revelation to attack Sinn Fein for denying the continued existence of the IRA paramilitary organisation and to pose as defenders of peace and democracy.
The DUP has left finance minister Arlene Foster in place to act as a “gatekeeper” to ensure Sinn Fein and the SDLP do not take decisions the DUP is opposed to during the crisis.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that there was a “limited opportunity” to avert the collapse of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing administration, and if it fell, it could be some time before it resumed.
Northern Ireland’s Protestant unionist and Catholic nationalist parties will begin talks on Monday, led by the British and Irish governments, to try to save the power-sharing government that ended decades of sectarian violence.
She said they “intend to establish dedicated funding aimed at increasing the capability of agencies working to tackle criminality and organised crime associated with paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland”.
The DUP has also withdrawn most of its ministers from the Executive and Peter Robinson has stood aside as First Minister.
On Friday, he said: “I am not in the business of wrecking devolution”.
No major breakthrough is expected in the talks process until the paramilitary assessment is published, which is expected in mid-October.
Ms McIlveen’s new appointment comes just over a week after she resigned from her position as a junior minister as part of the DUP protest at the Government’s refusal to suspend Stormont. The Agreement represented a good deal for Northern Ireland.
“Officers from PSNI Serious Crime Branch, investigating an arms and explosives find in West Belfast on September 18, assisted by officers from North East Counter Terrorism Unit and Northumbria Police, have arrested a 45-year-old man this morning in Sunderland”, said Det Brown.
“We will work with the other parties to tackle the issue of armed groups, which want to drag us back to the past including active unionist paramilitaries and armed republican dissidents, and organised criminals who are a blight on the community”, he said.
He said he would speak to his party executive and “reflect where we go from here”.
“PSNI will continue to build on our work with the Organised Crime Taskforce, An Garda Síochána and our other partner agencies to tackle organised criminality”.
On the eve of crunch negotiations over the future of the powersharing institutions, the Northern Ireland Secretary has urged politicians to embrace the spirit of compromise.
A three-person panel to examine findings from the security agencies such as MI5 and police on the structure, role and goal of proscribed organisations is due to be appointed this week.
“We recognise the Secretary of State is now taking action to address the two concerns we had raised”.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Charlie Flanagan, said the exercise will be “a once-off exercise completed over the coming weeks and is meant to assist the parties in the talks in their collective consideration of how the impact and legacy of paramilitary activity should best be addressed”.
Advertisement
Topping the agenda at Stormont House will be issues around paramilitary activity, the budget and the implementation of controversial welfare cuts.
