THE news that dissident republican terrorists seriously injured a police officer in Northern Ireland on Friday underlines the fragility of the political process in the province.

With First Minister Peter Robinson's position called into question over the allegations that his wife took £50,000 from property developers and that he failed to inform the authorities about it, this latest terror attack merely adds to fears that the power-sharing arrangement is in deep trouble.

Even before the booby-trap bomb attack and the crisis surrounding the Robinson family, the political process was locked in stalemate. Under Peter Robinson, the Democratic Unionist party (which supports the union with the rest of the UK) has been resisting Sinn Fein (which wants a united Ireland) with demands that policing and justice powers be transferred from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The DUP argues that it cannot agree until there is full confidence within the unionist community on the issue.

Sinn Fein's national executive is to meet at its headquarters in Dublin to decide its approach to the deadlock. Now it will also be wondering with whom in the DUP it might be negotiating following the deluge of scandal relating to the Robinsons.

The East Belfast MP and DUP leader is seen by both the British and Irish governments as a pivotal figure in the power-sharing settlement in Northern Ireland.

— The Guardian, London