DUP FIRST Minister Peter Robinson has refused to comment on Martin McGuinness’s decision to run for the presidency. He has however expressed concern about the functioning of the Northern Executive in his absence.
While some unionists have commented negatively, the Ulster Defence Association leader Jackie McDonald said they would be hypocritical to oppose Mr McGuinness’s bid as they shared power with him at Stormont.
Mr Robinson has been careful to avoid remarking on Mr McGuinness’s decision to hand the Deputy First Minister post on an acting basis to the Sinn Féin Minister of Education John O’Dowd.
DUP sources say Mr Robinson is keeping out of the presidential election debate because it is a matter for another jurisdiction.
Mr Robinson queried, though, whether Mr McGuinness’s decision to quit his post on a temporary basis – as Mr Robinson did last year during the controversy surrounding his wife Iris, might undermine the work of the Northern Executive.
“It will be particularly hard for John O’Dowd over the next number of weeks,” said Mr Robinson in Belfast yesterday. “He now has two full-time jobs. We will work as hard as we can to ensure he can run those two jobs at the same time. There are concerns, of course, that the decision-making process could be slowed down.”
Some DUP sources have voiced anxiety that Sinn Féin might “take their eye off the ball” in Northern Ireland with the party president Gerry Adams now a TD for Louth, and Mr McGuinness running for Áras an Uachtaráin.
Meanwhile, Mr McDonald, the so-called brigadier of the UDA in south Belfast and a senior and influential loyalist, has cautioned unionist politicians against criticising Mr McGuinness’s decision.
He said yesterday that he believed Mr McGuinness had “massaged the truth” about his IRA past but was now “a man of peace”.
Separately, Northern Ireland’s Minister for Arts Caral Ní Chuilín yesterday apologised for referring to former minister for justice Michael McDowell as “a complete gobshite” on her Twitter account.
The Minister, who was in Derry yesterday to launch Derry Corporation archives which date from 1673 to 1901, made the comment about Mr McDowell following his appearance on RTÉ’s current affairs programme The Frontline on Tuesday night.
The Minister, whose portfolio also includes language diversity, wrote on her Twitter account: “Yes, get the picture and white sheets and burning crosses when I listen to McDowell who is a complete gobshite.” Initially Ms Ní Chuilín refused to comment about her tweet but later she apologised.
Earlier this year Ms Ní Chuilín was criticised for appointing convicted Provisional IRA killer Mary McArdle as her political adviser.