N.Irish lawmakers return to power-sharing after two-year hiatus

Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris speaks to the press on College Green in London on January 30, 2024. – Northern Ireland’s main pro-UK party, the DUP, said it endorses a deal with the UK government allowing it to end a long-running boycott of the province’s devolved administration. The DUP walked out of the regional government in February 2022 in protest against post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, the only region of the UK to have a land border with the European Union. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

Northern Ireland’s lawmakers on Saturday restored its devolved assembly after a two-year hiatus, paving the way for a power-sharing government led for the first time by a pro-Irish unity nationalist.

In a special sitting to restart the Northern Ireland Assembly after the biggest pro-UK party ended its boycott, lawmakers were set to nominate Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister in a historic step for the UK territory.

The session, which follows the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ending its walkout after striking a deal with the UK government over post-Brexit trade rules, will also see a deputy first minister and other ministers appointed.

Under the 1998 Good Friday or Belfast Agreement that ended three decades of sectarian violence over British rule in Northern Ireland, the first minister and deputy first minister posts are equal.

But the appointment at the Stormont assembly of a Roman Catholic pro-Irish unity first minister in a nation set up as a Protestant-majority state under British rule is hugely symbolic.

It not only reflects Sinn Fein’s position as Northern Ireland’s biggest party but also shifting demographics, since the island of Ireland was split into two self-governing entities in 1921.

“This is an historic day. It is about the future,” O’Neill said on X, formerly Twitter, hours ahead of her swearing-in.

“As a First Minister for All, I am determined to lead positive change for everyone, and to work together with others to progress our society in a spirit of respect, cooperation, and equality.”