Stormont crisis: Peter Robinson says progress being made after NI Secretary meeting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34270880

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Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson has said the Northern Ireland Secretary is still considering his requests ahead of any all-party talks.

The proposed discussions are designed to avert the collapse of the assembly.

The political crisis was sparked by a police assessment that Provisional IRA members were involved in a murder.

Mr Robinson said he believed progress was being made on matters the DUP had brought to Theresa Villiers' attention, but refused to say what he asked for.

The DUP leader, who stepped aside as first minister of Northern Ireland over the crisis, said he would like round-table negotiations to begin on Monday.

Three other DUP's ministers resigned and the Ulster Unionists pulled their only minister out of the Northern Ireland Executive after a police assessment that IRA members were involved in the murder of a former IRA man in Belfast last month.

The story of Stormont's crisis

Read more on how the crisis unfolded

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness repeated his call for all-party talks "without preconditions".

He said that after "useful" meetings with the British and Irish governments on Wednesday he was "hopeful" that all-party talks could start on Monday but added there was "no guarantee".

"There is a huge responsibility on all of us to give leadership at this time and I think our ministers, for example, are day and daily out and about in their departments and doing their job " Mr McGuinness said.

"The fact that they're doing that, against the backdrop of other ministers not being in post, is very debilitating and dismaying, I think, for society as a whole."

Following his meeting with Ms Villiers, Mr Robinson refused to be drawn upon what he had asked the government for but said there were two matters he wanted resolved.

"I think progress is being made, but we look forward to a definitive outcome, which hopefully, in the next couple of days we will have," he said.

"We would very much like the talks process to start on Monday."