SF's Doherty: Assembly collapse could see rise in dissident activity

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has said a collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly could see a resurgence in dissident republican and loyalist activity.

SF's Doherty: Assembly collapse could see rise in dissident activity

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has said a collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly could see a resurgence in dissident republican and loyalist activity.

The Democratic Unionist Party is meeting with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers today to ask for Sinn Féin to be excluded from Stormont.

It comes after the UUP said yesterday that it will pull out of the Assembly over claims the IRA still exists.

The SDLP has warned this morning that the future of power-sharing is now "perilously" close to "total chaos".

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said a collapse of the political structure would impact on communities in the North.

"The absence of (a political structure) creates a vacuum...which will allow for those who are against the peace process (and) who want to bring us back to the dark days to (step in)," he said.

Reacting to comments from other political leaders, including an accusation from Tánaiste Joan Burton that the disbanded paramilitary group had morphed into a “mafia-style organisation”, Pearse Doherty said: "Joan Burton, Micheál Martin and others should stick to the facts and should not be playing politics."

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