Stormont powersharing set to return after DUP backs deal – The Irish Times

Powersharing is set to return to Northern Ireland after the DUP accepted a UK deal to re-enter the Assembly and Executive.

The party has blocked the functioning of devolved government in the North for two years in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson announced the move at a press conference in the early hours of Tuesday following a meeting of the party’s executive.

He said that subject to the “binding commitments” between the DUP and the UK government being “fully and faithfully delivered … the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions.”

The detail of the deal is due to be published in the coming days, and with the other Northern parties due to meet on Tuesday, the expectation is the Assembly and Executive will be operational again by the current deadline of February 8th.

The return of Stormont will trigger the release of a £3.3bn (€3.84bn) financial package from the UK government, with a significant chunk allocated to settle the ongoing disputes over public sector pay that saw Northern Ireland brought to a near-standstill earlier this month in the largest strike in a generation.

Main points

• Powersharing in North is set to return after DUP backs UK government deal
• Jeffrey Donaldson: ‘decisive’ backing of party executive secured last night
• Deal aims to address DUP concerns over post-Brexit trade barriers
• North Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris welcomes ‘significant step’
• Mary Lou McDonald: Stormont could return before February 8th

Gerry Murphy, head of the Northern Ireland arm of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), said the return of the Executive would be welcomed by the thousands of workers who took strike action earlier this month.

“Talks between trade unions and public sector employers must begin immediately so workers can reap the rewards of their principled resistance to these shameful political games,” he said. “Once the pay issues have been fairly resolved, the trade unions expect to contribute to the policy programme of the restored legislative assembly and the NI Executive,” he said.

Our Northern Editor Freya McClements writes that a recall of the Assembly could happen as early as Friday or Saturday:

The first stage is for the UK to publish the legislation, and that will give the details of the deal which has persuaded the DUP to return to Stormont.

That then has to be passed at Westminster – which should be largely a formality – and that paves the way for a recall of the Assembly and the nomination of a Speaker, the prerequisite for all further business.

It’s a measure of how quickly things are moving that already on morning radio in Northern Ireland there is discussion around which party will take which ministry in a reformed Executive.

We do know one position – Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin vice president, will take up her role as first minister, the first time in the history of Northern Ireland it has been held by a nationalist.

One to watch is whether the DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, will sit as deputy first minister, or whether he will return to the green benches of the House of Commons – he is MP for Lagan Valley – and install a colleague in his place; the name mooted there is Emma Little-Pengelly.

One of the main windfalls of the return of Stormont will be Northern Ireland unlocking £3.3bn (€3.8bn) in funding from the UK government. So what will that likely be spent on?

The improved financial package is understood to comprise £184m for public sector pay increases.

More than £600m of new and existing funding will be used to create a fund for the transformation of public services, with an additional £34m provided to tackle health waiting lists next year.

Details of deal likely published on Wednesday – Donaldson

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said he expected the details of the deal his party agreed with the UK government would be published tomorrow. He said he believed the government would move “quickly” to introduce legislation in the House of Commons to give effect to promised changes.

“First of all, there is a new legislation which will affirm Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom. And then there’s legislation to restore Northern Ireland’s ability to trade freely with the rest of the UK, whilst of course maintaining our access to the EU single market,” he said.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the DUP leader said support for the return to Stormont was “decisive” within his party and that he did not anticipate any split.

“There are people that have concerns and we will address those concerns … I don’t expect the people will decide that someone else has a better offer,” he said.

The timeline for when powersharing would be restored depended on how quickly the UK government pushed through promised legislative changes, he said.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said Northern Ireland had been through a “topsy turvy” period while Stormont had not been functioning.

Speaking on RTÉ, Mr McConalogue said the Government was hopeful the Executive would be back in place “over the next week or so”.

“The really important thing is we see, at long last, the decision for the DUP to enter the executive … we certainly look forward to that getting up and running,” the Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal said.

The Minister said he was not “privy” to whether any deal agreed by the DUP included changes to the post-Brexit trading framework between the UK and Ireland.

Meanwhile, Conor Murphy, Sinn Féin MLA and former finance minister, said he believed the Assembly could be back “before the week is out”.

The British government was “prepared” for the DUP to agree a deal and would likely “move quickly” to introduce promised law changes in the coming days, he said. “We need to move ahead now and try and provide some government for people who elected us to do that job,” he said.

One of the most practical impacts of the return of Stormont will be a £3.3bn (€3.84bn) financial package available from the UK government, which had been subject to the return of powersharing. A significant chunk of the funding will likely be used to settle ongoing public pay disputes.

Some 170,000 public sector workers, including nurses, midwives, bus and train drivers, teachers and ambulance staff, brought Northern Ireland to a standstill earlier this month in the largest strike in the North in a generation.

Executive could be back by Thursday – Beattie

Doug Beattie, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), said he expected the Executive could be back up and running by Thursday this week “or earlier”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Beattie said he was “a little bit surprised” it had taken so long for the DUP to move to restore powersharing. “There was nowhere else to go. This was always going to be the outcome at some stage,” he said.

The rival unionist party leader questioned “what on earth was it all for”, given it seemed “absolutely nothing” had changed when it came to the Windsor framework governing post-Brexit arrangement in Northern Ireland.

“I think people will move very quickly because if you don’t people will try and undermine what was agreed. I think if things go to plan we could have the Executive up and running this week,” Mr Beattie said.

In a statement, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he welcomed the decision by the DUP and that the “imminent return” of the government in Northern Ireland was “good news”.

What were the DUP’s seven red lines or tests that the party said would have to be met before it would return to Stormont?

• Guarantee everyone in the UK is entitled to the same privileges and be on the same footing when it comes to trade.
• New arrangements to avoid diversion of trade.
• No effective trade border down the Irish Sea between Britain and Northern Ireland.
• Give people of Northern Ireland a say in EU laws in place under the protocol.
• No checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to Britain or vice versa.
• No new regulatory barriers developing between NI and the rest of the UK, unless agreed by the Executive and Assembly.
• Any diminution of Northern Ireland’s status in UK would require consent of majority of NI population.

A big part of the £3.3bn deal to restore Stormont offered by the UK government was the money to settle public sector pay disputes, Freya McClements writes.

A mass strike brought Northern Ireland to a near-standstill earlier this month, and further strike action by Translink workers is due to take place on Thursday – which means another day with no public transport.

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster, Davy Thompson, the deputy regional secretary for Unite the union, said he did not believe the DUP’s move was sufficient to see the strikes called off. “We don’t know when that government’s going to be formed,” he said.

“Until there is government in Northern Ireland, there is no government in Northern Ireland, so the only person that can make a difference here is the Secretary of State who could release the funding.”

Mr Donaldson told the press conference at the Hinch Distillery in Ballynahinch that the package, which he said would be published by the government in due course, safeguarded Northern Ireland’s place in the union and restored its place within the UK internal market.

“It will remove checks for goods moving within the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland and will end Northern Ireland automatically following future EU laws,” he said.

“There will be legislation to provide new legal and practical protections for the Acts of Union and which guarantees unfettered access for Northern Ireland businesses to the rest of the United Kingdom.

“In the coming days, in addition to the publication of the details of the new package of proposals, the UK Government will be required to deliver on the legislative commitments they have made to us.”

The DUP leader said he had also secured cross-party support for the proposals at Westminster.

“Therefore, regardless of who forms the next UK government, these agreed measures will be taken forward beyond the forthcoming general election,” he said.

“Throughout this process, we have been clear and have made clear we will only be able to move after the government faithfully delivers on the implementation of its legal and other commitments.

“The package of measures will require a significant number of actions to be taken and we look forward with confidence to their ongoing implementation, according to an agreed timeline.

“Upon that basis, the Democratic Unionist Party would support the calling of a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly to elect the speaker and facilitate the nomination of ministers,” Mr Donaldson said.

He continued: “I believe that with the faithful delivery of this package of measures, hard work and dedication, we will be able to look back on this moment as the defining time when Northern Ireland’s place within the Union was safeguarded, and our place within the United Kingdom internal market was restored.

“Over the coming period, we will work alongside others to build a thriving Northern Ireland firmly within the Union for this and succeeding generations.

“When our grandchildren look back on this period, they will be able to say we had a just cause, we held the line, we restored the balance and we secured a positive future for Northern Ireland and its integral place in the Union of the United Kingdom.” – PA

DUP efforts to keep details of Monday’s executive meeting secret were seriously undermined when Jamie Bryson, a loyalist activist and vocal opponent of the Government deal, posted on X, formerly Twitter, what he said were live updates from the confidential briefing – posts that included details of apparent attempts to find out who was leaking the information to Mr Bryson.

Asked about potential dissent within the party, Mr Donaldson added: “I am confident that all members of the party will accept what was a decisive move by the party executive this evening.”

Around 50 loyalist and unionist protesters assembled outside Monday night’s meeting at the Larchfield estate in Co Down, many carrying posters and banners warning against a DUP “sellout”.

Some shouted at DUP members as they drove into the grounds of the venue.

Sinn Féin would be in line to take the First Minister’s job in any restored ministerial executive in Belfast.

Party president Mary Lou McDonald said she was optimistic Stormont could return before the next legislative deadline for forming an administration, February 8th.

“I am optimistic having heard Jeffrey Donaldson’s public declaration that we will see the Northern institutions back up and running before the February 8th deadline with a fully functioning Assembly and Executive and north south bodies,” she said.

“Sinn Féin will now engage with the parties and both governments to ensure we now all press on without delay.

“It is vital there is political stability to address the scale of the crisis across our public services,” she said.

“Let’s now focus minds on the job at hand and to the solutions required to support workers and families who want and deserve functioning government.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris welcomed the step and made clear the British government would deliver on its end of the deal. He described the breakthrough as a “welcome and significant step” by the DUP.

“I am grateful to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and colleagues for the constructive dialogue over the past months and to the other political parties in Northern Ireland for the patience they have shown during this time,” he said.

“I am pleased that the DUP have agreed to accept the package of measures that the UK Government has put forward and as a result they are ready to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly and nominate representatives to the Northern Ireland Executive.

“Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said this is subject to the binding commitments between the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Government – I can confirm that we will stick to this agreement.

“I now believe that all the conditions are in place for the Assembly to return, the parties entitled to form an Executive are meeting tomorrow to discuss these matters and I hope to be able to finalise this deal with the political parties as soon as possible.”

Support for the deal is not unanimous within the DUP and several senior figures remain fiercely opposed to the proposed agreement to restore powersharing.

The party has been using a veto power to block Stormont’s devolved institutions for two years in protest at post-Brexit arrangements that have created trade barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland.

It has been involved in protracted talks with the British government aimed at securing concessions on the arrangements that would address its concerns around trade and sovereignty.

Mr Donaldson insisted he had secured sufficient party backing to initiate a sequence of events that would result in Stormont’s return.

“The officers, Assembly group, parliamentary group and the central executive of the Democratic Unionist Party have now been briefed and considered all aspects of our negotiations between the UK government and the DUP,” he said.

“I am pleased to report that the party executive has now endorsed the proposals that I have put to them.

“The party has concluded that subject to the binding commitments between the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Government being fully and faithfully delivered as agreed, including the tabling and passing of new legislative measures in Parliament and final agreement on a timetable, the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions.”

Unionist critics of his move, both inside and outside the DUP, believe the Stormont boycott should only end once all economic barriers created by Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol, and the subsequent Windsor Framework, are removed.

While the deal being offered by the government will seek to reduce red tape and offer additional measures aimed at strengthening Britain-North ties, they will not result in the axing of the EU and the UK’s jointly agreed protocol and framework. – PA

Mr Donaldson said DUP party officers – a key 12-strong decision making body – had “mandated” him to move forward on the basis he was proposing.

During the powersharing impasse, the DUP has used “seven tests” to measure any proposals designed to address its concerns on the trading arrangements. Mr Donaldson said the package on the table represented “progress” across all seven tests. – PA