Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has warned that the party could withdraw from the Stormont Executive unless First Minister Arlene Foster steps down.
Speaking in Belfast on Saturday morning, Adams said: “The DUP leader has thus far refused to stand aside, without prejudice, pending a preliminary report by an Independent Investigation to the RHI scandal. She repeated that refusal yesterday. That is not good enough.”
“Arlene Foster has been First Minister for almost a year. Martin McGuinness has proven his ability to work with the leaders of Unionism, but this can only be on the basis of partnership and equality. Martin told her that in a frank conversation on Wednesday.
“Arlene Foster is not a Prime Minister. She is a co-equal partner in the Office of First and Deputy First Minister. She can continue in that office but only for as long as Sinn Féin allows it.”
Pressure has been mounting on Foster in recent weeks and months following her bungling of the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme which promised too much to users in subsidies. For every pound spent on green heating systems, users earned £1.60 back.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office reported that a business that would earn £192,000 in subsidies in England would earn £860,000 in Northern Ireland, as there were no caps on the subsidies. Foster was Minister for Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment when the plan was adopted, and she has been First Minister in the North for a year.
Foster’s political opponents have applied serious pressure to the DUP leader and called on her to step down. Adams’ latest statement puts further pressure on Foster, threatening the very existence of the power-sharing assembly.
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