Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s first minister, is taking a six-week break from his duties, six days after the astonishing details emerged of his 59-year-old wife’s affair with a 19-year-old and the dubious financial dealings linked to it. The British media have had a hay day with the story, which the Guardian describes as “truth stranger than fiction.” It brings together conservative northern Irish politics, graft, political power, Pentecostal Christian religion, Catholocism, sex, adultery and more. Peter Robinson’s future is in question and the temporary handover of his powers to Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster comes at a critical time for power-sharing talks between Sinn Fein and Robinson’s DUP party.
Iris Robinson, who has been a Member of the Stormont Parliament, is now receiving medical treatment. She has said publicly she’s been fighting a battle with depression, and she attempted to commit suicide after the affair ended. Kirk McCambley, the young man who had the affair with her, has shot to sudden fame and is being wooed as a pinup boy.
