Northern Ireland appoints nationalist as First Minister

BELFAST, February 3

Northern Ireland’s parliament appointed an Irish nationalist as First Minister for the first time on Saturday, a historic milestone in a state established a century ago to ensure the dominance of pro-British unionists.

Michelle O’Neill’s appointment, the delayed result of a watershed 2022 election, is the latest sign of the rise in the British region of a Sinn Fein party that has said its ultimate dream of a united Ireland is “within touching distance”.

The appointment came as Sinn Fein’s pro-British rival, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), formally ended a two-year boycott of power-sharing government after striking a deal with the British government to ease post-Brexit trade frictions.

“This is an historic day which represents a new dawn,” O’Neill, 47, told the assembly. “I will serve everyone equally and be a First Minister for all.

“I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict without exception,” O’Neill added.

Britain’s minister for the region, Chris Heaton-Harris, said the restoration of government represented a “great day for Northern Ireland”.

O’Neill represents a shift to a new generation of Sinn Fein politicians not directly involved in the region’s decades-long bloody conflict between Irish nationalists seeking a united Ireland and pro-British unionists wanting to remain the United Kingdom.

As the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Sinn Fein was long shunned by the political establishment on both sides of the border. It is now also the most popular party in the Irish republic.

The post of deputy First Minister was taken by the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly.