NORTHERN IRELAND’S power-sharing Government started to fall apart Monday as two Protestant ministers said they would resign amid a furor over alleged Irish Republican Army spying.

　　The announcement by the officials from Ian Paisley’s hard-line Democratic Unionist Party was aimed at putting pressure on administration Protestant leader David Trimble to step down as well.

　　“We are out to all intents and purposes now. Mr. Trimble, it’s over to you,” Paisley said, flanked by his party’s two departing ministers in the 12-member administration, the central achievement of the 1998 peace agreement.

　　Trimble said his Ulster Unionist Party — the province’s largest and essential for the administration to survive — would resign soon unless Britain supported their calls to expel Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party, from the coalition.

　　Adding to the political turmoil, two outlawed Protestant gangs continued a bloody feud Monday night on the streets of east Belfast. One man was shot in the head and left in critical condition, while in a separate attack another would-be victim ran away from a gunman.

　　Pressure is building on Britain to suspend the Northern Ireland administration’s powers and to resume sole control from London.

　　The power-sharing government already has been suspended three times by Britain. Each time, the gambit has allowed the Northern Ireland government to survive. But a withdrawal by Trimble and other Protestants this time would be much harder to reverse.

　　Sinn Fein has been accused of using its access to the government of Northern Ireland to gather intelligence on potential IRA targets and to steal confidential documents on their political opponents.

　　The party’s senior legislative aide, Denis Donaldson, and another Sinn Fein member were charged Sunday with possessing confidential British documents. Police said these included notes of discussions between Trimble and Britain, and lists of the home addresses and other carefully guarded details of potential IRA targets including the senior British army general in Northern Ireland. (SD-Agencies)