The Northern Assembly Minister Peter Robinson of the DUP has said his fellow DUP member, Ian Paisley Junior, was correct to resign his post as a Junior Minister in the Stormont Assembly.
Mr Paisley Jnr announced his resignation earlier today, following months of controversy arising from claims about his lobbying and links to a property developer.
In a statement announcing he was stepping down as a junior minister, Ian Paisley Jnr stressed he was not going because of some hidden or revealed wrongdoing on his part.
He said over the past ten months there had been a relentless period of personal criticism, unfounded allegation and inuendo.
He said this criticism had been a distraction and had got in the way of the power-sharing government and the activities of his party.
The DUP is led by his father Reverend Ian Paisley, who is also First Minister.
The resignation comes after criticism over his links to Co Antrim developer Seymour Sweeney and allegations he had lobbied on his behalf.
It was also claimed the MLA had used the St Andrews talks in 2006 to lobby for constituency issues.
The SDLP's Declan O'Loan said he felt the resignation was inevitable and Sinn Féin's Daithi McKay said there were still a number of questions to be answered.
