Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STORMONT IS BEING STALLED DUE TO BREXIT
SF leader hits out over crisis
SINN Fein’s leader has accused the Government and DUP of prolonging the Stormont crisis to allow an unreflective view of Northern Ireland to be presented in the Brexit debate.
Mary Lou Mcdonald said she was prepared to re-enter talks to find a resolution to the 19-month impasse.
However, she added the terms of a draft deal Sinn Fein insists was struck in February remained the “bottom line” for any fresh negotiations.
Branding the failure to restore power-sharing a “disgrace”, Ms Mcdonald suggested the deadlock suited Prime Minister Theresa May and her DUP confidence and supply partners because it meant the outcome of the Brexit referendum in the region – 56% Remain – was not being effectively presented at governmental level.
She said: “I think it suits the DUP and the British government not to have institutions in the north for the simple reason that the DUP are very much out on their own on the issue of Brexit, they are not reflecting the views of the majority of people in the north on this matter, far from it.
“In fact they are acting in defiance of the views of the people of the north. It would be preferable to have the institutions up and running where that political reality could be writ large.”
Stormont crashed in January 2017 amid a row about a botched green energy scheme.
It later widened to take in issues such as the Irish language, LGBT rights and the legacy of the Troubles.
The last talks bid to resurrect the troubled institutions crashed in February when the DUP pulled the plug.
Sinn Fein insisted a draft deal had been signed off with the DUP at that point, and accused the party of getting cold feet in the face of an internal revolt from grassroots members angry about potential concessions on the vexed dispute over the Irish language.
The DUP denied the claim, insisting it exchanged numerous papers with Sinn Fein during the negotiation process but none amounted to a draft agreement.
Meanwhile, Ms Mcdonald has urged the Orange Order to think again after it snubbed her offer of a meeting.
It rejected a call to invite her to its annual Twelfth of July celebrations because it would insult the memory of hundreds of murdered members.
Ms Mcdonald said: “At this stage, in the year 2018, the notion that you are not going to talk to your neighbour, the notion that you are not going to talk to somebody in political leadership, that you are not going to tease out contentious issues, is simply not a
runner.”