It was a first for Northern Ireland. The government is functioning for the first time in two years. This is the first time that a nationalist Catholic, Michelle O’Neill, has been elected prime minister. For the first time, the Executive, made up of the First Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and two junior ministers, is made up of women: Michelle O’Neill, Emma Little Pengelly, Aisling Riley and Pam Cameron. .
But after the first day, the work begins. Richard Garland is a Loyalist political activist from Belfast.
“I think it’s difficult to quantify exactly the impact of two years without a government. Northern Ireland was already in big trouble before that,” he told RTÉ’s This Week programme.
“We boycotted Stormont for three years from 2017 to 2020 and I think a lot of people are becoming increasingly frustrated.
“We’re on strike and it’s having a big impact. You know everything from education to health to hospitals to all kinds of things.”
“The waiting list is the highest on record, the highest on record, the ambulance wait time is the highest on record, the ambulance wait time is the highest on record.
“There’s a lot going on here and politicians need to realize that this is affecting people, that people are getting emotional and angry about this, don’t get me wrong. But Stormont won’t cure everything, but we need a start.” We can’t keep going in circles.
“From a unionist perspective, to sell unions, we need to make them work and we need to make Northern Ireland work,” he said.
Cailin McCaffrey, a nationalist community activist from west Belfast, says for Northern Ireland to ‘work’, the basic needs that people face to get on with their daily lives need to be prioritized. .
“We’ve seen the DUP’s show, probably in Belfast and just across the north, and I think people are completely fed up.”
“I think people you know are very worried about the food they have in their fridges and how they’re going to wash their clothes with the bills and the prices of everything going up.
“The fact that we didn’t have a government was a joke, and I think that’s shown by the widespread strikes that we’ve seen from all kinds of workers: health care workers, hospital workers, teachers, transport workers. ”, this is all a counterattack.
“At the end of the day, I think that was the turning point that basically brought the DUP back. It’s clear that people can’t get GP appointments. I mean, I have family across the street from me. .They have to get food from food banks.”
“They can’t afford the necessities for themselves or their children. This is all the effect of the government not being able to do anything to help us. I don’t think many of us have much hope.
“You know, it feels like we haven’t had a government the last few years.
“It’s a historic moment to have Sinn Féin as prime minister, but it doesn’t feel like it. People are just fed up,” Mr McCaffrey said.
Mr Garland said he was pleased for Belfast’s Catholics, nationalists and republicans to finally have someone representing them from the community side.
“You know, you know, remember the days of Paisley and McGuinness? There was something about that, something about them working together, a positive attitude, a smile, a grin. I want to see that. . [a return] Back to that.
“I know it’s not perfect. We’ve got to make this place work and see some positive vibes come back to this place. So we’ll see what happens.” added Garland.