Sinn Fein insists Northern Ireland deadlock can be broken ‘in short term’
Agreement to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland can be reached in the short term, Sinn Fein has insisted, but the DUP has cautioned against “quick fix solutions”.
On the first day of talks this year, political parties continued to work towards finding a way to bring the Stormont administration back into action.
Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy said his party believed a deal could be reached in the short term, adding they saw “no need” to draw the talks out until the 13 January deadline.
Speaking later, Democratic Unionist Party MP Jeffrey Donaldson said engagements so far had been “very constructive”, but he warned against “quick fix solutions”. He said the parties “need to get it right” to ensure sustainable government.
“We want Stormont to be credible, strong, robust and can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties that come down the road,” he said.
The latest process, which was initiated in the wake of the general election, was paused over the festive period after a pre-christmas deal failed to materialise.
Secretary of State Julian Smith, Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney and the local parties returned to Stormont House yesterday morning to resume the effort.
The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein held separate meetings with Mr Smith, before a roundtable with the other Stormont parties and the Irish Government.
Mr Murphy said the first roundtable meeting had lasted 30 to 45 minutes.
“We think agreement can be reached in short order, we don’t see any need to run this down to the wire to 13 January in some kind of dramatic way,” he said. “The issues that we are dealing with are all well rehearsed. What we need now is political will to get down to resolving very, very quickly.”
Mr Murphy outlined some of the issues where agreement remains to be reached.
“There are obvious ones around language provision, the petition of concern and its usage, but there are also issues this afternoon which will be talked out around programme for government, financial resources available to any new executive,” he said. “This place can’t function if we can’t deliver for public services.”
Three years on from the collapse of the devolved government, the Stormont parties have until a 13 January deadline to strike a deal.
On that date, legislation to give civil servants additional powers to run Northern Ireland’s struggling public services expires.