Sinn Féin raises the spectre of state agents

But if talks are not going to take place and if talks do take place and there is no successful outcome then, in my view, the next logical step is to an election, and that is my very firm and strong view.

SDLP Assembly member Alex Attwood, before entering the talks today, said the big test for the governments and the parties was to “get back to the fundamentals of the Good Friday agreement despite the damage done to them over the last 10-15 year”.

The government in Stormont is at a standstill after the First Minister stepped down last week.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist Party has indicated its intention to take part in intensive political talks aimed at saving powersharing in Northern Ireland in the wake of an IRA-linked murder.

Alliance party leader David Ford added that all ongoing issues facing Stormont, including the Stormont House Agreement, needed to be addressed in the talks.

Under Stormont’s rules, if the DUP do not replace their resigned ministers within seven days, the seats would be offered to another party.

Mr Nesbitt said one of the key issues was establishing trust.

He said the murders had “created problems” for Sinn Fein and Mr Robinson.

Following a meeting with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers, Mr Nesbitt said that they were also waiting to see what the Secretary of State would say in her statement on Tuesday.

In light of the decision by republicans, nationalists and the UUP to continue with business as usual in the Assembly, I am therefore standing aside as First Minister and other DUP Ministers will resign with immediate effect with the exception of Arlene Foster.

“They have succeeded only in holding the political process to ransom and providing encouragement to the dissident elements and the criminals who murdered Jock Davison and Kevin McGuigan“.

The situation escalated last week when three senior republicans, including Sinn Féin’s northern chairman Bobby Storey, were arrested in connection with the murder.

Mr McGuigan, a former member of the IRA, was gunned down near his home on August 12.

The disclosures about the IRA have heaped pressure on Sinn Fein to explain why the police assess that the supposedly defunct paramilitary organisation is still in existence.

Mr Storey said he agreed with the assessment there was no IRA military footing, but he added: “Where I differ from the chief constable, is there is no role for the IRA, the IRA has finished, the IRA has gone”.