DUP calls on Michelle O’Neill to stand down while police investigate her attendance at Bobby Storey funeral

He said the party met this morning to discuss their response after Ms O’Neill refused to apologise for her actions on Wednesday, claiming the Sinn Fein assembly member has “failed to recognise the public mood on this”.

“I think now is the time to step up and demonstrate respect and integrity,” he told the BBC.

“The law on these matters is clear and what happened at that funeral has sent out a very, very bad message to people in Northern Ireland.

“In light of the failure of Sinn Fein yesterday to grasp the opportunity to apologise, it is our view that the deputy first minister must now step back from her role while these matters are investigated by the PSNI.

“We will be asking the standards authorities in the Assembly to examine whether those MLAs who attended the funeral broke the code of conduct for MLAs, and we will also be asking the PSNI to specifically investigate any potential regulatory breaches by executive ministers including the deputy first minister.

“Given the seriousness of this situation, given the need to rebuild public confidence, given the need to have clarity in the Executive message on Covid-19 and the risk to the public, then yes that’s what we believe should now happen.”

Mr Donaldson said his party leader and First Minister Arlene Foster has written to deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill this morning setting out their position.

He said he was not aware of a response to that letter as he spoke to the BBC Radio Ulster’s Stephen Nolan at around 10am.

He added there would be a “real difficulty” in the DUP working with Sinn Fein in the current circumstances, and that Mrs Foster would be unlikely to stand alongside Ms O’Neill at a planned Executive press conference later.

“I think it would be very difficult for that to happen in the current circumstances because we cannot afford mixed messages right now, the public need leadership,” he said.

Jeffrey Donaldson said the DUP is calling for an urgent meeting of the Party Leaders Forum to “discuss a way forward in order to re-establish confidence”.

“What we don’t have is the power to remove the Deputy First Minister unless we bring the whole government crashing down,” he said.

“We now have four parties out of the five in the Executive who are calling for Michelle O’Neill to step aside, I think she now has to consider her position and if she doesn’t and if Sinn Fein fail to respond then let’s see where we are.

“But I am taking one step at a time and we have outlined the measures it would take to rebuild public confidence and what is now necessary to do that.

“We are going to sit down with the other party leaders in the Executive and discuss how we deal with this. This is not just about the DUP, it is about the collective responsibility of the Executive to provide the leadership the people of Northern Ireland need.”