Durkan favours assembly suspension as likely option

SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said the suspension of the power-sharing executive was now the most likely option following his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today.

Mr Durkan was the latest in a line of political leaders to meet Mr Blair following allegations of Sinn Fein involvement in a 'spy ring' at the Northern Ireland Office.

While seemingly supportive of suspension as a way to preserve the Assembly, Mr Durkan told Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, after their meeting in Dublin on Tuesday night, that the Agreement must not be allowed to collapse even if the institutions do.

However, Mr Durkan would give no clear definitive answer on what his party would be proposing in terms of nudging the devolved government through the present crisis.

While stating that the overall situation would be helped if "there was no IRA for people to worry about", Mr Durkan said people could not expect his party to support the exclusion of Sinn Fein ministers in the current situation. However, he said that his party could not expect the Ulster Unionist Party to "continue on in the executive indefinitely in these circumstances".

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern later this evening to discuss the latest developments in the crisis. The two heads of government will be seeking to coordinate an approach to Sinn Fein ahead of the republican party's delegation to meet with the British Prime Minister tomorrow in Downing Street.

While Mr Blair has been relatively non-committal in his briefings this week, he has said that, while the current situation was serious, "the vast majority of people recognise that the Good Friday Agreement, the peace process, offers the best chance of a successful future".

He added: "Now we have got to discuss with the parties the best way through this, but I remain absolutely determined to make sure that there is a way through it so that people in Northern Ireland are given the future they need."

However, today Mr Blair re-stated the government's position that Sinn Féin must be "committed to exclusively peaceful means".

Alliance Assembly member, Seamus Close, also echoed this call by saying that Secretary of State Dr John Reid would be guilty of dereliction of his political duty, if he failed to table an exclusion motion for Monday's plenary meeting of the Assembly.

(MB)