DUP leader and former First Minister of the Northern Irish Executive Peter Robinson has confirmed that he will instate procedural political manoeuvres to ensure that Sinn Féin and the SDLP are not allocated the seats recently vacated by the resignation of the members of the DUP.
On Thursday, Mr. Robinson along with three other ministers and a junior minister resigned from the executive, purposefully fracturing the coalition in an effort to force the resignation of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness along with the four other Sinn Féin members of the Executive.
The catalyst for the mass resignation of both the UUP and the DUP was the alleged connection between the Provisional IRA and the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast last month, despite there being no evidence. His death has formed the foundations for an attempted political coup by the Unionist parties, which has been described as a “farce” by Traditional Unionist Voice Party leader Jim Allister, stating that “all of the shenanigans in Stormont to date will pale into insignificance and it will be held in even greater contempt than it currently is – which is quite an achievement”.
Under the rules of Stormont’s Executive, following the resignation of a member, if a new member is not chosen by the party within seven days the position will be reallocated to another party (Sinn Féin and the SDLP).
In conjunction with this rule, the DUP plan to nominate new members every seven days, and then have them resign immediately in an effort to prevent Sinn Féin from receiving more seats.
Mr. Robinson stated that “We’ll do exactly the same thing again (after re-nomination), we’ll resign until such times as the matters are resolved”.
DUP Finance Minister and current First Minister Arlene Foster has been left as a “gatekeeper” for the party in order to speak on their behalf and to prevent controversial government decisions to be made by the remaining republican and nationalist ministers during the absence of her party.
Sinn Féin are currently appealing to the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister David Cameron to facilitate talks to rectify the current crisis, however the UUP and DUP are seeking direct rule from Westminster, which could last up to ten years and decimate any semblance of independence Northern Ireland has, as well as any chance of a United Ireland being instated in the coming years.