Paramilitary activity must be addressed - N.Ireland's acting leader

September 11, 2015 3:22 PM

"In order to have that stable government we have to deal with the twin problems in front of us not least paramilitary activity being linked to one of the parties of government, Sinn Fein,"

N.Ireland's acting leader: Paramilitary activity must be addressed

The acting leader of Northern Ireland said on Friday that paramilitary activity had to be addressed for political stability to return to the crisis-hit province.

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The British province's devolved administration is on the brink of collapse after a murder linked to former members of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army prompted its First Minister Peter Robinson to step aside.

"In order to have that stable government we have to deal with the twin problems in front of us not least paramilitary activity being linked to one of the parties of government, Sinn Fein," acting First Minister Arlene Foster told Sky.

"We can't just ignore that - we need to deal with the issue. And in order to have stability in the future we need to deal with that cancer at the heart of government now," she said.

Police suspect members of the IRA were involved in the August 12 shooting of McGuigan. Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, denies the group is still active, saying it "left the stage" after a 2005 ceasefire.