First Minister 'ready' to meet

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The first minister has said it is imperative that the Executive should meet as planned on Thursday.

Speaking at a DUP function in Lisnaskea on Friday, Peter Robinson said he and his party were ready to work.

"I don't have to do anything to help the situation. I'm ready to go now. I want the Executive to meet, there is a lot of business for it to do," he said.

Mr Robinson also said the Executive has been held hostage to Sinn Féin's demands on policing.

The Democratic Unionist Party leader claimed republicans have issued threats and eroded confidence in power-sharing.

He said he would not be pushed or bullied into moving on policing and added that such powers would not be placed in the hands of a Sinn Fein minister.

"What we need to do now is not to blockade the Executive but to use the agreed processes and seek to reach agreement, and build confidence in the community for this to take place.

"There is one certainty - Sinn Féin's harmful obstruction of Executive business is eroding confidence not only in devolving new powers but in the devolution we have already achieved."

Mr Robinson was addressing supporters in Fermanagh, where the party won a by-election earlier this month.

On policing, he said devolution was a unionist ideal.

"Our terms are unalterable. We will take our decision based on content not the calendar," he said.

"We want devolution to take place, and it will, but only when the essential conditions have been met.

A Sinn Fein spokesman said the DUP leader needed "to make it clear whether he supports the St Andrews Agreement, because that was the basis on which the institutions were resurrected".