Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Peter Robinson on Tuesday resumed his job as Northern Ireland First Minister after stepping down last month in a row about alleged Irish Republican Army (IRA) activity. Ministers from his party who joined in the walkout also returned to the power-sharing executive following the publication of a government-ordered review of paramilitary activity in the province.
The review, conducted by police and British domestic security service MI5, found that the main republican and unionist groups including the IRA still existed despite the 1998 peace deal that ended some 30 years of sectarian violence known as The Troubles. Although some paramilitaries have since committed murders, the report concluded that the groups' leaders were committed to peace and their criminal activities did not spill over into terror.
The row centres on allegations that IRA members were involved in the murder of a former IRA militant, in a case that bore similarities to extra-judicial killings by the IRA during The Troubles. The claims revived fears that the paramilitary group was still operating in secret. Robinson on Tuesday warned that the issue had not yet been settled permanently, and that the power-sharing agreement was dependent on the outcome of talks. "We really are only back for a couple of weeks while the talks process is concluded," he said.