Foster says NI election a ‘wake-up call for unionism’

DUP leader Arlene Foster has described the Assembly election results as a “wake up call for unionism” ahead of talks resuming on Monday at Stormont.

Political parties have until March 27th to strike a deal and form a government or a fresh election could be called.

In her first major broadcast interview since the DUP dropped from 38 seats to 28 seats after the March 2nd election, and unionism lost its majority at Stormont for the first time in its history, Ms Foster told Sky News she would not be stepping down as there is a “job of work to be done”.

“I said back in December the mark of a politician is not what they do during good times but how they tackle the challenges,” she said on Sunday.

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The DUP remains the largest party in the North but only one seat and 1,200 votes separates it from Sinn Féin, when just last year the difference was 10 seats and 36,000 votes.

Sinn Féin has repeatedly said it will not support the DUP nominating Ms Foster as First Minister while the pubic inquiry into the botched RHI green energy scheme is underway.

Ms Foster said it was not Sinn Féin’s decision to make and she also said she did not think that there was justification for a Border poll that could lead to a united Ireland.

On Sunday, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show he considered the partition of Ireland to be “totally and absolutely illegitimate and immoral”.

Mr Adams acknowledged his party had “a job of work to do” to persuade the majority of the population in the North, which currently wishes to remain in the UK, of the merits of republicans future vision for the island.

In a statement addressing the continuing political negotiations he claimed that on the back of Brexit the British government wanted to dismantle critical human rights aspects of the Good Friday Agreement and had failed to implement key elements of this and other agreements.

“The current negotiations must therefore be an implementation process,” he said.

“It must be about the implementation of outstanding agreements, whether on Acht na Gaeilge or the Bill of Rights, or on rights, including marriage equality.”

Mr Adams has again argued for the North to achieve a special designated status within the EU to stop a hard economic border on the island of Ireland, job losses and business closures.

Misery

He said this would not infringe on the constitutional status but “would guarantee we won’t have the type of misery that is going to be inflicted on our farming, our dairy farmers and our agri-food industry and on our enterprises”.

Sinn Féin northern leader Michelle O’Neill has described the British government “using the grief of families who lost loved ones during the conflict as a bargaining chip” and called this “despicable and unacceptable”.

Ms O’Neill called again on Northern Secretary James Brokenshire to immediately release funding to the Lord Chief Justice to proceed with legacy inquests.

“Most of the families affected by the continued delays by the British government have been waiting decades for this most basic investigation and some up to 45 years,” she said.

She added that the electorate voted for political institutions based on equality and respect and for integrity in government.

“This is doable but if we are to make progress then the British government needs to implement existing agreements.”

Mr Brokenshire has cancelled his trip to the US to focus on Stormont talks.

He had been due to meet President Donald Trump as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day visit. Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan is in Dublin for the talks.

While talks continue on Monday members of the Innocent Victims United campaign group will be speaking at Stormont about their experiences of injury and death during the conflict in the North to mark European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.