- Title: Northern Ireland's McGuinness to resign over political crisis
- Date: 9th January 2017
- Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MCGUINNESS MEETING FEMALE VOTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORTHERN IRELAND DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER AND SINN FEIN'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN IRELAND (REPUBLIC OF IRELAND), MARTIN MCGUINNESS, SAYING: "I think people look at me in the round and know that in my younger days I was involved with the IRA, but they also know I've been at the heart of the peace process for over two decades and people really appreciate that. They think that, certainly what they're saying to me is it's time for change and they want someone who's prepared to stand with the ordinary people of Ireland who have suffered so much." MCGUINNESS SHAKING HANDS WITH PEOPLE DRINKING OUTSIDE A PUB MCGUINNESS SPEAKING AT PODIUM AT UNITE IRELAND RALLY PAN FROM SINN FEIN PRESIDENT GERRY ADAMS TO MCGUINNESS AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORTHERN IRELAND FIRST MINISTER AND SINN FEIN'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN IRELAND, MARTIN MCGUINNESS, SAYING: "Little do they know how much excitement there is in the North about the fact that I am a candidate for the presidency of my country. I want to be president of every one of Ireland's 32 counties."/ SOUND OF APPLAUSE AUDIENCE APPLAUDING BALLINASLOE, IRELAND (FILE - OCTOBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) BALLINASLOE HORSE FAIR HORSES AT FAIR MCGUINNESS CHATTING TO FARMERS MCGUINNESS SHAKING HANDS WITH FARMERS AND STROKING HORSE DONKEYS FOR SALE MCGUINNESS SHAKING MAN'S HAND AND GETTING ONTO OLD-FASHIONED HORSE CARRIAGE AND POSING FOR PHOTOS MCGUINNESS'S HAND ON REIN / MCGUINNESS GETTING OFF CARRIAGE AND WALKING AWAY
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2017 16:02
- Keywords: McGuinness Northern Ireland resignation
- Location: BELFAST AND LONDONDERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND / GALWAY AND BALLINASLOE, IRELAND
- City: BELFAST AND LONDONDERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND / GALWAY AND BALLINASLOE, IRELAND
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0065YD1C1Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will resign from his post in protest against his power-sharing government partners' handling of a controversial energy scheme, he said on Monday (January 9).
McGuinness's nationalist Sinn Fein party had called on First Minister Arlene Foster of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the province's largest pro-British party, to step aside while an investigation take place into the botched scheme it says could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.
"The First Minister has refused to stand aside. Therefore it is with deep regret and reluctance that I am tendering my resignation as deputy First Minister. We now need an election to allow the people to make their own judgement," McGuinness said in a statement.
Born in Londonderry in May 1950, McGuinness joined the Irish Republican Army at the age of 20 as the guerrilla group began its 30-year campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, swiftly rising to become a senior commander.
He became Sinn Fein's chief negotiator in the early 1990s and played a central role in talks that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end conflict between majority Protestants committed to ties with Britain and a Roman Catholic minority in favour of a united Ireland.
In 2007 McGuinness became deputy first minister of Northern Ireland when the province's Protestant and Catholic leaders launched a new power sharing government. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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