Yahoo Finance Talks on restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland begin
Talks on restoring power-sharing involving five of Northern Ireland’s main political parties will begin in Belfast on Tuesday.
Northern Ireland has been without an executive for more than two years as a result of a political stalemate between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin.
The five-week negotiations, the first since February 2018, will be formally opened by the British and Irish governments.
Prime minister Theresa May and her Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar last month urged political leaders in Northern Ireland to heed the “unmistakable message” heard at the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee.
Martin Magill, a Catholic priest, was given a standing ovation during a eulogy delivered at McKee’s funeral when he asked why it took the death of the 29-year-old woman, who was shot by dissident republicans in Londonderry, to get politicians to come together.
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Talks on Tuesday are expected to focus more on the process and timeline, with substantive deliberations on restoring power at Stormont beginning on Wednesday.
Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley and Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney will lead the proceedings, which are expected to involve round-table discussions, working groups, and one-on-one meetings with political parties.
Bradley on Monday announced a £105m investment package for the Londonderry region.
The talks also come after last week’s local elections in Northern Ireland failed to change the political calculus. Both the DUP and Sinn Féin remain the largest political parties.
The collapse of power-sharing in January 2017 followed a scandal involving a failed renewable energy incentive scheme known as the Renewable Heat Incentive.
But talks have not progressed for a number of reasons, including Sinn Féin’s objections to both the DUP’s use of a parliamentary mechanism to prevent the introduction of same-sex marriage and its position on the Irish language.
Both parties also fundamentally disagree about Brexit, with the DUP staunchly in favour of the UK’s departure from the EU, and Sinn Féin opposed.
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