Adams slams DUP for ‘not turning up’

GERRY Adams has accused the DUP of failing to turn up for three days of intensive talks to restore Stormont this week.

The Sinn Fein president said, at a meeting on Monday, the parties agreed they would meet from Wednesday onwards, but the DUP failed to show.

Mr Adams said: “We met with DUP and agreed with them that we would clear our desks — Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — and meet with the other parties also. The DUP didn’t turn up. We need them in the room.”

There was no immediate response from the DUP yesterday, but in Dublin party leader Arlene Foster, who was leading a delegation to meet new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, sounded an upbeat note ahead of talks at Stormont from next Monday. “It takes two to tango and we’re ready to dance,” she told reporters.

But Mr Adams hit back: “The DUP know they are only going to be back into the institutions if Sinn Fein consent to them being back in the institutions.”