Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill has insisted it’s “business as usual” for the power-sharing Executive in the aftermath of the political upheaval caused by Jeffrey Donaldson’s resignation as DUP leader.
The Sinn Féin vice president made her remarks after co-chairing the first meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in almost three years on Monday.
Flanked by outgoing Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Tánaiste Micheál Martin at a press conference in the council’s joint secretariat offices in Armagh, Ms O’Neill said there was a “huge opportunity” to “work collaboratively across the island” on key projects in the wake of the resumption of the institutions.
She described the NSMC as a “crucial part of the jigsaw in terms of the infrastructure around the Good Friday Agreement”.
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In what was his last official day in office, Mr Varadkar spoke of his confidence in the restored Executive to withstand the political crisis triggered by Mr Donaldson’s shock departure last month over historical sexual offences. It has been reported that the former DUP leader intends to strenuously contest the charges he is facing.
The Taoiseach cautioned against further collapses of Stormont, which was down for two years due to a DUP boycott over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
“Events happen in politics, whether it’s changes in leadership, there’ll be elections for the House of Commons, there’ll be elections for the Dáil all within the next year, and what’s really important is that institutions should be able to function through them and withstand any disruption that may occur,” Mr Varadkar told reporters.
“And that’s happened in the past, and I’m sure it can in the future.
“And I know from my experience, having served in Government for quite some time and having observed the institutions functioning and not functioning, what we know is that whenever they fall, they tend not to be re-established for many years.
“And I think we should always bear that in mind and make sure that we don’t see another break happen.”
Major infrastructure projects, including Casement Park, the A5 road and Narrow Water Bridge, were among those discussed by Ministers during the meeting which Ms O’Neill said was “productive” around their shared priorities.
The council is the primary North-South political body created under the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
Asked if she was concerned about the future of the North’s devolved Government, which was restored in February, Ms O’Neill responded by saying that after immediately after the press conference she planned to quickly travel back to Belfast for the resumption of Assembly “because we’ve much business to do”.
She added that an Executive meeting was planned later this week.
“It is business as usual as far as the Executive is concerned,” she said.
“We’re here today as joint heads of Government to be part of the North South Ministerial Council meeting, and what the public deserve and want is leadership, and we’re prepared to provide that leadership.
“We’ve spoken to all Executive colleagues, everybody was here today to play their part in terms of their own ministerial responsibility.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said she was determined to provide stability to ensure the Executive could continue in a “positive tone” and pledged her support for the DUP interim leader, Gavin Robinson.
[ DUP faithful will expect interim leader Gavin Robinson to steady the partyOpens in new window ]
“We have an important number of weeks coming up where we’ll be discussing the draft programme for government and the budget. Those are two key documents in terms of the agenda for Government,” she said.
Mr Martin said there was a “resilience” shown by Executive and Cabinet members at the morning meeting through a joint commitment to the “agenda that was ahead of us on a North-South basis”.
“I think stability and certainty are essential for economic development, for foreign direct investment and for cohesion within society,” he said.
“And I think that continuity, that certainty, that stability, I think it’s important for the people of Northern Ireland.”
The Tánaiste also paid tribute to Mr Varadkar for his “contribution to politics and particularly to the North-South agenda”.
