Taoiseach playing into hands of those who want institutions to fail

THE decision by Enda Kenny to support calls by the unionist parties for an adjournment of the Assembly in the North is "a mistake and will play into the hands of those who want the political institutions to fail," says Gerry Adams.

Gerry Adams' comments came after it emerged that Taoiseach Enda Kenny had rowed in behind the DUP and UUP calls for the Assembly to be adjourned. The Taoiseach is meeting with the SDLP on Thursday morning to urge them to also support the proposal which comes amid the ongoing political controversy following the murders of Gerard Davison and Kevin McGuigan in Belfast.

"Yesterday at a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan he sought to persuade myself and Mary Lou McDonald that Sinn Féin should agree to adjourn the Assembly or to abstain from a vote on that issue," Gerry Adams said.

"We told him that it was Sinn Féin's firm view that there should be no adjournment. The current contrived crisis is a result of inter unionist rivalry and the cynical exploitation of the murder of Kevin McGuigan."

Ahead of a meeting between the SDLP and the Taoiseach on Thursday morning, SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell told RTÉ's Morning Ireland:

"We have serious difficulties with the fact that this crisis has been fabricated."

Adams said that an adjournment of the Assembly would undermine confidence in the political process and play into the hands of those who want the institutions to fail. He said attempts by the Taoiseach to persuade the SDLP to support the adjournment is a mistake:

"The Taoiseach is obliged to uphold the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements, and to defend the political institutions. This is what he should do."