N.Irish govt collapse would last for "very long time" - Irish PM

September 11, 2015 10:02 AM

I think this can be avoided but I think it needs a realistic appraisal by people who have had very harsh things to say about each other and where there are clear, strong differences of opinion but you have to look at the bigger picture

N.Irish govt collapse would last for "very long time" - Irish PM

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 a very long time before it resumed.

"If they were to collapse, it could be a very long time before you get back to a situation where you have what you might call normal running of an executive or Assembly," Enda Kenny told Irish national broadcaster RTE on Friday.

"I think this can be avoided but I think it needs a realistic appraisal by people who have had very harsh things to say about each other and where there are clear, strong differences of opinion but you have to look at the bigger picture."

On Thursday, Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson stepped aside as the province headed towards the gravest crisis since a 1998 peace deal ended years of sectarian violence.