Sinn Féin policing spokesman Gerry Kelly has received a fresh death threat, he said today.
As a new sub-group prepared to meet at Stormont to break the deadlock over the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Kelly said he had been informed of a threat from dissident republicans by the police in recent days.
The police message told him: "Dissident republicans are planning to carry out some form of unspecified attack against Gerry Kelly from Sinn Féin in the near future.
"You are advised to seek advice on and take steps to protect your personal security."
Mr Kelly said he did not know specifically what was going on in the mind of those who had threatened him but that he and his family had to take the threat seriously.
"We will get on with the business [on policing and justice issues]. This is an important meeting today. We think we can sort this out very quickly. The key issue and the unlocking issue is the issue of timeframes, of course.
"You cannot have a situation where we have a new beginning to policing sitting on the shelf or indeed without any influence upon it at the moment.
"That is the DUP's position at the moment and I hope that they are thinking more positively about what way to shift this forward," Mr Kelly said.
The policing issue is seen as the main stumbling block to reviving power sharing by next March. Sinn Féin is facing demands for it to call an ardfheis to consider a motion committing the party for the first time to supporting the PSNI.
PA