Northern Ireland gets its first Sinn Fin first minister in historic shift

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

BELFAST — After two full years without a functioning government, Northern Ireland’s Parliament Buildings opened their doors on Saturday and lawmakers returned to work — and one of their first acts will be to name Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister.

O’Neill, 47, will make history as Northern Ireland’s first republican leader, from a party that wants north and south to come together, someday, as a single country.

“It represents truly historic change in the north and across the island of Ireland,” she said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Calling it a “good day for democracy,” O’Neill noted that the restoration of government “respects the result” of the May 2022 election — when Sinn Féin for the first time won the largest share of seats in the assembly and the right to hold the first minister job under Northern Ireland’s delicate power-sharing agreement.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/03/northern-ireland-sinn-fein-michelle-oneill/

---

[moniss]

1. My hopes are that the DUP

will allow the focus of government to be on everyday issues for folks like the trains, roads, housing etc. If we can have a couple of years of that hopefully things will be in a better place for all of the people. There will of course be some of the GFA matters to attend to but perhaps proceeding like ordering from a Chinese restaurant, a little from column A and a little from column B, will be possible. I think all of the average citizens in the UK, Ireland and the EU are more than tired of hearing about Brexit constantly and would like for government to get on with the everyday things.

[IronLionZion]

2. Hope things go peacefully without the troubles

[Farmer-Rick]

3. Sounds like a good first step

"From a party that wants north and south to come together, someday, as a single country."

Yeah, that really should be the goal.