NORTHERN IRELAND First Minister Peter Robinson said yesterday he was suspending routine meetings of the power-sharing Stormont executive over allegations that the IRA has been reactivated.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) failed in a bid for a four-week adjournment of the Northern Ireland Assembly last week after police claimed members of the Provisional IRA had shot a man dead in east Belfast.

But Mr Robinson, the DUP leader, said it could not be business as usual for Assembly Members, who returned from

their summer break yesterday. He warned that his ministers could resign if crunch political talks due to start today are not successful.

He added that there would be no north-south ministerial meetings between Belfast and Dublin, saying: “Our ministers shall be focused on the talks process.”

However, the rival Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) claimed that the DUP was “playing hokey-cokey” over its decision to continue with exceptional meetings.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt accused the DUP of sending out mixed messages, adding: “We at least were a bit more definite.

“We said business would not be as usual.

“This is the first day in the history of parliament in Northern Ireland that an Assembly has been in session without an Ulster Unionist Party in government.”

Sinn Fein Assembly Member Conor Murphy insisted that the party would not be distracted by an electoral contest within unionism.

“We are mandated to be here to do business. We are mandated to fight austerity and the impact of Tory cuts on front-line public services and on vulnerable people.”