The DUP in Northern Ireland is breaking political deadlock after almost 2 years
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The Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland's main Protestant party and one of its biggest political forces, said on Tuesday it was ready to return to power-sharing after a nearly two-year boycott paralyzed decision-making in the region.
After an internal meeting that stretched into the early hours of the morning, Geoffrey Donaldson, the leader of the party known as the DUP, told a news conference that he had been tasked with supporting a new deal agreed with the British government that would see his party return to Northern Ireland's governing assembly.
“Over the next period we will work together with others to build a prosperous Northern Ireland firmly within the union for this and generations to come,” Mr Donaldson said. However, he added that a return to devolution depends on the British government legislating a new set of measures, which have not yet been published.
The announcement from the DUP, which represents those who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, will be welcomed by many voters frustrated by the political deadlock, as well as by the UK and Irish governments, which have put pressure on the party to end the impasse.
But it could also herald a seismic shift in the territory's history, opening the door for Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, to take the top political role of “first minister” rather than “deputy first minister” for the first time.
Sinn Féin is committed to the idea of a united Ireland, in which Northern Ireland would join the Republic of Ireland rather than remain part of the United Kingdom.
The breakthrough comes after months of tense debate between the DUP and the British government aimed at returning unionists to Stormont, the Northern Ireland assembly in Belfast that was launched as part of the Good Friday agreement that ended decades of sectarian violence in the region known as the Troubles .
Stormont cannot function without the territory's two leading parties representing Unionists, who are mainly Protestant, and Nationalists, who are mainly Roman Catholic.
The DUP resigned in February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trade rules, and civil servants have continued to carry out core government functions since then.
But bigger decisions need Stormont approval and Mr Donaldson is under growing pressure to end the boycott, not only from the British and Irish governments but also from voters in Northern Ireland, where services including health care are under pressure. pressure.
Tens of thousands of people took part in the biggest strikes in recent memory this month, as public sector workers took to the streets to protest their pay, which lags behind that of their counterparts in the rest of the UK due to political deadlock.
In December, the British government offered an extra £3.3 billion for Northern Ireland, provided the DUP returned to Stormont.
However, hard-liners in his own party have also made Mr Donaldson stand firm, and a decision to return to government could put him on a collision course with them.
In May 2022 Sinn Féin overtook DUP in the legislative elections and became the largest party in Northern Ireland. Months earlier, the DUP rejected power-sharing in protest at post-Brexit trade rules that introduced checks on some British goods entering Northern Ireland.
Unionists said the restrictions, enshrined in an agreement called the Northern Ireland Protocol, would drive a wedge between the territory and the rest of the United Kingdom and called on the British government to effectively scrap it.
In 2023, Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, negotiated a new agreement with the European Union, known as the Windsor Framework Agreement, which extracted some concessions from Brussels. But they were not enough for the DUP
The party's reservations now appear to have been resolved following fresh talks with the British government in London, paving the way for an end to the nearly two-year administrative deadlock.
While many will welcome the prospect of restoring power-sharing, any deal will still be a risk for Mr Donaldson, as tough union critics oppose a compromise.
One of them, Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, said on Monday that his case had faced “defining moment”, urging the DUP not to agree to post-Brexit trade arrangements. “That would be a point of no return,” he told reporters, “because it would mean accepting that Northern Ireland would never again be a full part of the United Kingdom.”
