For the first time, an Irish nationalist will lead Northern Ireland’s government.

Sinn Féin Vice-President Michelle O’Neill arrives in Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Saturday, February 3, 2024. Michelle O’Neill is set to become the country’s first nationalist prime minister after two years of political collapse. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) will gather at Parliament House in Stormont on Saturday for a meeting to appoint ministers to the power-sharing executive and end the impasse. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Brian Merry Associated Press

LONDON — An Irish nationalist made history on Saturday by becoming Northern Ireland’s first minister as the government returned to work after a two-year boycott by unionists.

Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill has seized power between British trade unionists and Irish nationalists who want Northern Ireland’s two main communities to remain in the UK under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement. He was appointed as the first minister of an equal sharing government. Aiming for unification with Ireland.

O’Neill’s nomination was seen as a highly symbolic moment for nationalists, as Northern Ireland was established in 1921 as part of Protestant-majority unionist Britain after independence from the Republic of Ireland. .

“Today is a historic day that represents a new dawn,” O’Neill said. “My parents and grandparents’ generation could never have imagined that this day would come. Thanks to the Good Friday Agreement, the old nation they were born into has disappeared. A more democratic, more equal nation. It builds society and makes it a better place for everyone.”

Mr O’Neill will share power with Deputy Prime Minister Emma Little-Pengery of the Democratic Unionist Party. The two sides are neck and neck, but Mr O’Neill will hold the more prestigious title if he wins more seats in Northern Ireland’s parliament in the 2022 election.

Neither side can govern without the consent of the other side. Government business has fallen by half in the past two years since the DUP left in protest over Brexit-related trade issues.

O’Neill, 47, who was born in the Republic of Ireland and raised in the north, comes from a family with links to the extremist Irish Republican Army. Her father was imprisoned as a member of the IRA, her uncle raised money for the IRA, and two cousins ​​were shot dead by security forces, one fatally.

Mr O’Neill has been criticized for attending events commemorating the IRA, telling an interviewer there was “no alternative” to the group’s armed operations during nearly 30 years of violent conflict over the future of Northern Ireland. Told. Good Friday Agreement.

“I don’t think there’s any Irish person who woke up one morning and thought conflict was a good idea. But then war came to Ireland,” she said in 2022. “I don’t think we had any other choice at the time, but now, thankfully, we have an alternative to conflict, and that is the Good Friday Agreement.”

At age 15, O’Neal became pregnant, and her mother quit her job to help raise her granddaughter so O’Neal could continue attending school. She said the Catholic school she attended was not supportive and her pregnancy was a “very negative” experience.

“The girls almost made me feel like I couldn’t stay in school, that kind of thing,” she said.

Mr O’Neill was elected to replace his father on Dungannon Borough Council in 2005 as a member of the IRA-affiliated party Sinn Féin. She was elected to Stormont Parliament in 2007.

Ms O’Neill and Mr Little Pengelly, 44, both grew up in the shadow of trouble and have vowed to work together to bridge a gap that once seemed insurmountable.

“The past, with all its horrors, can never be forgotten or allowed to be rewritten. But while we are shaped by our past, we are not defined by it,” Littlepengelly said. Ta. “My childhood experiences gave me the drive and desire to create a different future, doing everything I can to ensure a better future, not just for myself, but for all of us. Thank you.”

Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Féin president who helped broker the historic peace agreement, was in the gallery with his grown daughter and son to witness Mr O’Neill’s nomination.

Mr O’Neill said: “As an Irish republican, I am committed to a genuine and honest effort in collaboration with my British, trade unionist and unionist colleagues.” “This is a gathering for Catholics, Protestants, and all dissenters.”

US President Joe Biden welcomed the restoration of Northern Ireland’s executive and parliamentary powers. “We look forward to a new stability in power-sharing government that will continue to strengthen the peace dividend, restore public services, and build on the tremendous progress of the past decades,” he said in a White House statement. Stated.

Political science academic Clare Rice said that although there was no difference other than semantics from her previous role as deputy prime minister, Ms O’Neill’s new position was “highly symbolic” and “highly controversial”. “Important,” he said.

“All eyes will be on that iconic appointment today,” Rice told the BBC. “That’s going to be the story of today, second only to the fact that we’re here.”

His return to government comes exactly two years after the DUP’s boycott over a dispute over trade restrictions on goods imported into Northern Ireland from Britain. 1.9 million people in Northern Ireland have been left without a functioning government due to rising costs of living and strained public services.

An open border between the North and the Republic was a key pillar of the peace process that ended the unrest, so checks were instead imposed between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

A year-old agreement between Britain and the EU, known as the Windsor Framework, eased customs checks and other hurdles, but it was not enough for the DUP, which continues to boycott.

The UK government this week agreed new changes that will remove routine checks and red tape for most goods imported into Northern Ireland, although some checks for illegal goods and disease prevention will remain. .

The new changes include a bill to “confirm the constitutional status of Northern Ireland” as part of the United Kingdom, and provide guidance to local politicians about future EU laws that may apply to Northern Ireland. It will provide “democratic oversight.”