Updated 7:56pm

SENIOR REPUBLICAN BOBBY Storey has insisted that the IRA is now gone and is not coming back.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference this morning, Storey called those responsible for the killing of Kevin McGuigan and Jock Davison “criminals” and said that anyone with information should come forward to the police.

He said that the PSNI had no cause to arrest him in relation to McGuigan’s murder and that he intends to take legal action against the chief constable.

Storey, who is Sinn Féin’s northern chairman, was joined at the conference by party leader Gerry Adams, along with vice-president Mary Lou McDonald and deputy first minister Martin McGuinness.

Storey was released from police custody on Thursday in a move that has been welcomed by senior party members.

Speaking today, he accused unionist parties of having “cynically used [his] arrest to pull down the political institutions” of Northern Ireland.

The UUP withdrew from the power-sharing executive three weeks ago in response to the IRA’s alleged involvement in McGuigan’s murder, while DUP ministers and party leader Peter Robinson quit their positions earlier this week.

Negotiations aimed at defusing the ongoing crisis are expected to resume tomorrow.

First published 2:40pm

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