Unionist politicians have rounded on Sinn Féin after leading republican Bobby Storey compared the IRA to a "butterfly" that has flown away.
Monday's resumed talks at Stormont House, hosted by Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers and Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, are beginning amid an almost predictable level of recrimination, this time sparked by comments from Sinn Féin's Northern chairman Mr Storey.
Mr Storey, along with fellow senior republicans Brian Gillen and Eddie Copeland were last week arrested by the PSNI in connection with last month's murder of Belfast republican Kevin McGuigan. They were released two days later.
IRA leadership
The assessment by PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton that IRA members were involved in the murder, although without the sanction of the IRA leadership, had already triggered a Stormont crisis.
In Belfast on Sunday Mr Storey, flanked by senior Sinn Féin members including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, insisted the IRA had "stood down", "left the stage" and was "not coming back".
Taking issue with Mr Hamilton’s assessment, he said: “I think the chief constable and other perspectives out there see this in terms of the IRA being the caterpillar that is still there. What I think is that it’s moved on, it’s become a butterfly, it’s flew away, it’s gone, it’s disappeared.”
The DUP, Ulster Unionists and the Traditional Unionist Voice party ridiculed Mr Storey's comments.
