Mary Lou McDonald said the expected restoration of power sharing after a deal between the Democratic Unionist party and the UK government came amid a “ historical turning of the wheel” that would unite the island.
“In historic terms, it is within touching distance and I think that is a very exciting thing and I hope people will fi nd that a very welcoming conversation,” the Sinn F éin leader said.
According to a speedy political choreography supposed to unfold at Westminster today and tomorrow her deputy, Michelle O’Neill , could become fi rst minister of the Stormont executive by the weekend.
“That will be a moment of very great signifi cance , not simply because we haven’t had government for so long but because it will be the fi rst time that we will have a Sinn F éin fi rst minister, a nationalist fi rst minister,” said McDonald.
O’Neill became the region’s putative fi rst minister when Sinn Féin overtook the DUP as the biggest party in the 2022 assembly election. But a DUP boycott to protest post-Brexit trading arrangements left Stormont in mothballs.
This story is from the January 31, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the January 31, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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