{"id":15175,"date":"2024-02-03T07:33:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T15:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15175"},"modified":"2024-02-03T07:33:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T15:33:45","slug":"northern-ireland-gets-its-first-sinn-fein-first-minister-in-historic-shift-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15175","title":{"rendered":"“Northern Ireland gets its first Sinn F\u00e9in first minister in historic shift”, Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By William Booth<\/a> and Amanda Ferguson, February 3, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BELFAST \u2014 After two full years without a functioning government, Northern Ireland\u2019s Parliament Buildings opened their doors on Saturday and lawmakers returned to work \u2014 and one of their first acts was to name Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle O\u2019Neill as first minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill, 47, makes history as Northern Ireland\u2019s first nationalist leader, from a party that wants north and south to come together, someday, as a single country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt represents truly historic change in the north and across the island of Ireland,\u201d she said in a statement to The Washington Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calling it a \u201cgood day for democracy,\u201d O\u2019Neill noted that the restoration of government \u201crespects the result\u201d of the May 2022 election \u2014 when Sinn F\u00e9in for the first time won<\/a> the largest share of seats in the assembly and the right to hold the first minister job under Northern Ireland\u2019s delicate power-sharing agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinn Fein wins in N. Ireland, a victory with big symbolism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But O\u2019Neill also emphasized on Saturday that she will be \u201ca First Minister for All\u201d \u2014 that means unionists and republicans, Protestants and Catholics, those who want a \u201cUnited Ireland\u201d and those who want to remain \u201cBritish Forever\u201d (alongside a growing number in the middle ground).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo all of you who are British and unionist: Your national identity, culture and traditions are important to me. I will be both inclusive and respectful to you,\u201d O\u2019Neill said in her first speech to the Northern Ireland Assembly. \u201cNone of us are being asked or expected to surrender who we are. Our allegiances are equally legitimate. Let\u2019s walk this two-way street and meet one another halfway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn F\u00e9in president and leader of the opposition in the Republic of Ireland, declared that Irish unity was \u201cwithin touching distance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill seems to be staying away from language like that this week, and experts say the prospect of a united Ireland remains some way off, more a medium-term project than imminent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is no doubt that the political landscape of Northern Ireland is changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/0a4eab51a18ec4a5e7a332a7491ca2fb.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-40\/html\/container.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the unionists have held the greater share of the power here \u2014 proudly declaring Northern Ireland\u2019s status as one of the four nations of the United Kingdom, alongside England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the unionists who boycotted the government for these past two years. Overtly, their gripe was with post-Brexit trade arrangements. But many people suspected they also didn\u2019t want to accept Sinn F\u00e9in playing a more dominant role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, for 730 days<\/a>, there wasn\u2019t a functioning government at the Stormont estate, the seat of power in Northern Ireland. No executive, no assembly \u2014 though lawmakers continued to draw two-thirds of their salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gift shop and the cafeteria remained open. Schoolchildren visited. But unelected civil servants were left to keep the lights on, while avoiding any major decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 years after Good Friday Agreement, cold peace prevails in Northern Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A breakthrough came earlier this week, when Jeffrey Donaldson announced<\/a> that his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had struck a deal with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s government to tweak some of the trade and customs arrangements for goods crossing the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes are described by Brexit experts as minor but important to the unionists, who have argued that requiring checks and customs declarations drives a wedge between Great Britain and Northern Ireland while drawing the north deeper into an all-Ireland economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade wasn\u2019t a problem when Britain and the Republic of Ireland were both part of the European Union\u2019s Common Market. But with Brexit, negotiators had to find a way to protect the integrity of the E.U.’s market without creating a visible border on the island of Ireland that could undermine the Good Friday peace agreement that ended 30 years of sectarian and state violence known as \u201cthe Troubles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson claimed a win with this week\u2019s trade adjustments, saying they would \u201csafeguard our place within the Union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Good Friday agreement \u2014 brokered in part by the United States \u2014 ushered in the modern age of devolved power sharing in Northern Ireland. There is no winner-take-all here today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Bono helped bring peace to Northern Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officially, there will be no difference in power between O\u2019Neill and the new deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP. They will be co-equals and co-leaders. One may shake the hand of a visiting world leader first, but they share duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/0a4eab51a18ec4a5e7a332a7491ca2fb.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-40\/html\/container.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet one is called a deputy, and here that matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share this articleNo subscription required to readShare<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike with everything in Northern Ireland, having Michelle O\u2019Neill as first minister is mostly symbolic,\u201d said Matthew O\u2019Toole, a lawmaker in the assembly from the Social Democratic and Labour Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he cautioned, \u201cBeing symbolic doesn\u2019t make it unimportant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00edobhra Aiken<\/a>, a lecturer at Queen\u2019s University Belfast, called O\u2019Neill\u2019s rise to first minister \u201ca sea change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said that with the partition of the island in 1921, \u201cthe infrastructure of Northern Ireland was specifically designed so that this would not happen. … Northern Ireland was created to have an Ulster Protestant majority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Martin McGuinness, a former IRA leader turned peacemaker, became the first deputy first minister from Sinn F\u00e9in in 2007, it wasn\u2019t uncommon for unionists to accuse him of having blood on his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin McGuinness, former IRA commander turned statesman, dies at 66<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with elections in the south next year, Aiken said, \u201cWe could soon see Sinn F\u00e9in holding power in both jurisdictions on this island.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belfast-based feminist historian Margaret Ward said this moment was \u201chuge in terms of Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s evolution,\u201d as well as the evolution of government in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, Stormont was irrelevant, because it was a male, unionist and very middle-class establishment that didn\u2019t have working-class people\u2019s interests at heart \u2014 whether they were Catholics or Protestants,\u201d she said. \u201cOver a period of about half a century, you could count the number of women engaged in elected office on both hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill\u2019s rise has been remarkable. A Catholic from a rural county, she was a mother at 16 and has spoken often of her hardscrabble youth. Today she is savvy talent with a long political track record, and is all over social media \u2014 and popular with young people wanting selfies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She comes from a deeply republican household. Her father was imprisoned for IRA membership during the Troubles and later made the transition into politics when he became a local Sinn F\u00e9in lawmaker. Her uncle was a president of Noraid, a republican fundraising group active in the United States, which U.S. government accused of funneling money to buy IRA guns. Noraid leaders deny this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jim Allister, the sole member of the legislative assembly from the Traditional Unionist Voice party, O\u2019Neill hasn\u2019t sufficiently distanced herself from IRA violence. After condemning this week\u2019s tweaked trade deal by his fellow unionists as \u201cnothing by spin and hype,\u201d he told The Post that he would return to the assembly on Saturday, but he opposed the choice for first minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichelle O\u2019Neill is a lady who told the people of Northern Ireland that there was no alternative to the butchery and genocide of the IRA. She justifies those acts,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think she is wholly unworthy to hold this high office, or any democratic office, if she thinks it was right and necessary to murder and to butcher innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, O\u2019Neill was asked by the BBC about the IRA violence during the Troubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any Irish person ever woke up one morning and thought that conflict was a good idea, but the war came to Ireland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continued, \u201cI think at the time there was no alternative, but now, thankfully, we have an alternative to conflict and that\u2019s the Good Friday agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, in her speech to the assembly, O\u2019Neill said, \u201cI am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict. Without exception.\u201d She added: \u201cI will never ask anyone to \u2018move on,\u2019 but I do hope that we can \u2018move forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Maskey, 72, retired on Saturday after having served as speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2020. He was also the first member of Sinn F\u00e9in to serve as lord mayor of Belfast, from 2002 to 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe symbolism of Michelle O\u2019Neill as the first republican first minister will not be lost on a lot of people. For me, that\u2019s a positive thing,\u201d Maskey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maskey said he still hoped someday to live in a united Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to have the dignity of my own political destination, and the sovereignty of my country,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m working on the premise that I will see that ushered in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By William Booth and Amanda Ferguson, February 3, 2024 BELFAST \u2014 After two full years without a functioning government, Northern Ireland\u2019s Parliament Buildings opened their doors on Saturday and lawmakers returned to work \u2014 and one of their first acts was to name Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle O\u2019Neill as first minister. O\u2019Neill, 47, makes history as Northern Ireland\u2019s first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15176,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175\/revisions\/15176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}