Northern Ireland lawmaker Martin McGuinness quits politics due to serious illness

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A screengrab shows Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness giving a statement to TV channels on his resignation, in Belfast. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:41pm, 20 Jan 2017Updated: 11:01pm, 20 Jan 2017

Martin McGuinness, the former IRA commander who served for near a decade as deputy first minister in Northern Ireland, said on Thursday he was quitting frontline politics to focus on recovering from a serious illness.

I am very determined to overcome this condition but it is going to take time

Martin McGuinness

The Sinn Fein lawmaker resigned last week from the devolved government in the British province after a row with his party’s power-sharing partners, triggering a snap election.

McGuinness, 66, said at the time that his plainly visible but unconfirmed ill-health was not a factor.

On Thursday, however, he said he had decided he was “not in any physical state” to stand in the vote, scheduled for March 2.

In an interview with the Press Association news agency, he said tests had prompted a diagnosis of a “very serious illness which has taken a toll on me”.

“I have taken the decision that I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election,” he said. “I am very determined to overcome this condition but it is going to take time.”

Ten years ago in May, McGuinness made history by entering a government with his once bitter foe, Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The decision to share power was a key part of the peace process in Northern Ireland, which endured three decades of violence in which more than 3,500 people died.