Sinn Fein leader to head government

O'Neill will be first nationalist to fill top job

- JOHN STEVENS

MICHELLE O'Neill is set to become Northern Ireland's first nationalist first minister after the DUP reluctantly agreed to return to Stormont.

The hardline Unionist party had blocked a power-sharing government for almost two years in a bitter dispute over post-Brexit trade barriers.

But after talks late on Monday night, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would end its boycott following an agreement with the UK Government.

As the largest party after the last Assembly elections in 2022,O'Neill, Sinn Fein's vice-president, is in line to become first minister within days.