Michelle O’Neill says she has not given up on powersharing at Stormont

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill has said she has not given up on powersharing being restored at Stormont, despite the DUP continuing its boycott of the institutions.

However, Ms O’Neill did say that the British and Irish governments needed to implement a “plan B” for running Northern Ireland if the Assembly does not return.

The DUP, the largest unionist party, is continuing to refuse to participate in devolved government until its concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements are tackled by the UK government.

MLAs met at Stormont on Wednesday in a failed attempt to restore the Assembly, before public sector workers across Northern Ireland took strike action over pay.

During the debate Ms O’Neill said she feared it would be the final sitting of the Assembly.

Speaking to the BBC, she said the reality was that there had been no government at Stormont for almost two years.

She said: “At the heart of that is because the DUP are refusing to do their jobs.

“They tell us that is because of their opposition to the Brexit [Northern Ireland] Protocol.

“To this juncture, in terms of responding to their concerns, we have had a British prime minister who has revisited the protocol and produced the Windsor Framework.”

She added: “I will never give up [on power-sharing].

“If I was going to send any message to public sector workers it would be one of hope.

“I will continue to fight your corner, I will continue to fight for an executive because I believe in powersharing and I believe in local ministers taking the decisions.

“There is a reality that the DUP have for a number of years now hidden behind Brexit, the protocol, but the Windsor Framework has been put on the table, they’ve had a year-long negotiation with the British Government and yet here we are and they still have not returned to the Executive.

“The only explanation I can draw for the DUP’s boycott is their refusal to accept a nationalist first minister.

“That was why I was making the point that if you draw that conclusion, that was why I was saying that might be the last sitting of the Assembly.

“I also said that I still called upon the DUP to make the right decision and still join with us.

“I think the public want mature, pragmatic politics. They want the political leaders to work together. They want us to fight the fight for proper funding for public services.”

Ms O’Neill said the Irish Government had to be involved in any alternative arrangements to govern Northern Ireland.

She said: “There can be no return to direct rule of the past. In the scenario we find ourselves in, the first priority should be to keep our focus on trying to get a restored executive

“If that is not to be the case then there has to be a plan B, we can’t sit in limbo.

“It looks like some sort of joint arrangement, joint partnership with the two co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, that is both the British Government and the Irish Government.”