HOW IT ALL UNRAVELLED:

A TIMELINE OF POLITICAL FAILURE

JANUARY 2017

Stormont’s Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigns in protest over DUP First Minister Arlene Foster’s handling of a botched green energy scheme — the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) — that left the administration facing an overspend bill of around £500 million.

The executive falls a week later and a snap election is called.

A public inquiry into RHI is called.

An ailing Mr McGuinness announces he will not stand for re-election. Michelle O’Neill is named the new leader of Sinn Fein at Stormont.

FEBRUARY

The RHI, the issue that brought the Executive down, gradually starts to take a back seat as other more traditional disputes start to dominate the election campaign, such as Irish language, legacy issues and the ban on same-sex marriage.

Mrs Foster describes Sinn Fein as “crocodiles” as she insists she will not agree to an Irish Language Act. The remark becomes a feature of the campaign. Republicans and Irish language activists embrace it, dressing up as crocodiles on the campaign trail.

MARCH • Sinn Fein makes major gains in the snap Assembly election, cutting what was a 10-seat gap from the DUP to a solitary seat. The long-standing unionist

majority within the Assembly goes.

Mr McGuinness dies. Mrs Foster, (below) and Mrs O’Neill are pictured shaking hands at his funeral, with some interpreting the gesture as a positive portent for the talks.

A statutory deadline to form a new Executive within three weeks of the election falls as the parties fail to agree