Northern Ireland’s devolved government has reconvened after a two-year boycott, with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill due to make history by becoming the first nationalist first minister.
The former Democratic Unionist party leader, Edwin Poots, has been elected as Speaker by members.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Northern Ireland’s devolved government has reconvened after a two-year boycott, with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill due to make history by becoming the first nationalist first minister.
The members will also nominate ministers to an executive, ending an impasse that has paralysed politics and left Northern Ireland run by civil servants on a form of governmental auto-pilot.
The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) walked out of Stormont on 3 February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements that it said undermined the region’s place in the UK.
The party agreed to end the boycott this week after its leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, wrung concession from the UK government that smoothed the so-called Irish Sea border.
There has been speculation hat Emma Little-Pengelly, the DUP assembly member for Lagan Valley, will fill the post while Donaldson, an MP, remains at Westminster.
Stormont’s restoration will release a £3.3bn package – including pay rises for public sector workers who have staged multiple strikes – that the UK government had made available, conditional on the revival of institutions set up under the 1998 Good Friday agreement.
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