UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said Sinn Fein has a "heavy responsibility" on their shoulders to distance itself from the IRA - or see the Assembly collapse.

The English MEP was visiting Belfast yesterday during a tour of the UK as part of his campaign to withdraw from the EU, and met First Minister Peter Robinson as well as addressing the 300-strong crowd who were meeting about his opposition to the EU.

On the topic of the current Stormont crisis, Nigel Farage said:"It can only get back on track if we get this level of acknowledgement from Sinn Fein and this dissociation from Sinn Fein (to the IRA) and that to be accepted in good faith by the DUP... If that doesn't happen, then I think it is back to direct rule."

When asked his views on the latest immigration developments in the EU, Mr Farage said: "If ISIS say they will use the tide of human misery that is coming across the Mediterranean to flood the continent with their Jihadi fighters, we ought to take them seriously."