Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Women at war
Michelle: DUP checked out of power-sharing Arlene: Sinn Fein have behaved incredibly badly Naomi: Govt needs to bang heads together
NORTHERN Ireland’s leaders were on a war footing again yesterday – ahead of a bid to get them back at the talking table.
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’neill accused the DUP of “checking out of powersharing” while leader Arlene Foster hit back, saying the republican party had “behaved in an incredibly bad way”.
And Alliance chief Naomi Long said the British and Irish governments needed to bang their heads together to get Stormont up and running.
They were speaking as Secretary of State Karen Bradley held meetings with all parties to revive the Assembly which collapsed almost 16 months ago.
A row that broke out over a botched green energy scheme and widened to encompass the Irish language and gay marriage shows no sign of resolution.
Mrs O’neill said there had been no “meaningful” engagement since Valentine’s Day after discussions broke up amid claims on a proposed deal to break the impasse.
She added: “Since talks collapsed the DUP have been preoccupied by Brexit, they have been preoccupied with their relationship with the Tories at Westminster and are not engaged in terms of trying to get these institutions up and running again.” Mrs Foster said Sinn Fein need to prove they could be trusted again. She added: “They have behaved in an incredibly bad way, therefore the building up of trust is going to take a long time and it is going to take actions.”
Mrs Long warned Stormont could stay stalled for up to five years and urged London and Dublin to resolve the potentially “disastrous” situation. SDLP chief Colum Eastwood objected to the establishment of a shadow Assembly.
He said it “is just another way of people justifying their wages”.
UUP leader Robin Swann added he is “optimistic” about the restoration of Stormont but cautioned time is “running out for devolution”.