Taoiseach urges DUP to restore powersharing at Stormont ahead of election deadline

Michelle Devane, PA

The Taoiseach has called on the DUP to “honour” the mandate of the people of Northern Ireland by contributing to the restoration of the Stormont institutions as the election deadline looms.

Micheál Martin said it does not appear that devolved government at Stormont will be restored by Friday’s deadline.

The Taoiseach added that it is “not satisfactory” that the powersharing institutions are not functioning.

There is less than a week to form a Stormont executive before Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris will be obliged by law to call a fresh assembly election.

The DUP is refusing to nominate ministers to form a new executive until the Westminster government takes decisive action on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

They argue that the post-Brexit arrangements hamper trade and place a border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Speaking at Fianna Fáil’s annual party dinner in Dublin on Saturday, the Taoiseach said: “From the meetings I had on Monday there doesn’t appear to be a likelihood that the executive or the assembly will be restored by the deadline.

“The British government are adamant and the outgoing government was adamant that there will be elections. We will engage with the British government ministers over the coming days to keep abreast of the situation.

“Meanwhile, I would say to the DUP that they should participate in the assembly and they should contribute to the restoration of the executive because otherwise we are denying democracy, denying the mandate that the people of Northern Ireland have given to their elected representatives to form a parliament and to form the executive.”

The Fianna Fáil leader said there has been too much “stop-start” with the Stormont institutions.

“It’s never satisfactory, in my view, that after elections, the assembly doesn’t get established, or the executive, and I think, historically, we’ve had too much stop-start with the assembly and with the executive over different periods, and that’s simply not good enough,” he said.

“I think the people are becoming increasingly annoyed about that. And I would say – particularly to the DUP in this case, because the other political parties want the restoration of the executive and the assembly – I would say to the DUP to honour the democratic mandate that has been given.”

Asked about the prospects of an executive being formed before Friday, and Boris Johnson reportedly gaining the 100 nominations needed to enter the contest to become the next Conservative leader, Mr Martin said:  “I don’t know that and I’m not going to interfere in the internal contest within the British Conservative Party in respect of who becomes their leader, or indeed who becomes the next British prime minister.

“I do think stability is important in respect of both the European Union and the United Kingdom relationship, the British-Irish relationship, and of course political stability in Northern Ireland.”