Sinn Fein Takes Control Of Northern Ireland
One giant step forward for Irish Unity & an end to lingering English colonization
Those who campaigned to 'take back control' did not appreciate Brexit giving more power to those seeking Irish unity
The new first minister Michelle O'Neill represents a party, Sinn Fein, that does not acknowledge Northern Ireland's six counties as separate from the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland. The historic moment has huge implications, David Blevins writes.
Michelle O'Neill. Pic: PA
It was dubbed "a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people" but 90 years later, there is a Catholic in the office of the first minister.
When Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill accepted the nomination, in the Irish language, a nationalist held the highest title in devolved government for the first time.
The sense of history was palpable at Stormont as members of the Northern Ireland Assembly filed back into the chamber after two years of stalemate.
She won't have more authority than she had as deputy first minister - the two most senior posts are codependent under power sharing - but it's hugely symbolic.
Parliament Buildings in the Stormont Estate represent decades of Unionist dominance. There are six floors inside and six pillars outside representing Northern Ireland's six counties.
But the new first minister represents a party that does not acknowledge those six counties as separate from the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland.
The Irish words 'Sinn Fein' are literally translated as 'ourselves' or 'we ourselves', expressing a desire for the whole island to be separate from the UK.
The party refuses to take its seats at Westminster (England's Parliament building in London) but regards power sharing at Stormont as a halfway house on the road to a united Ireland. Northern Ireland has 9 seats in Westminster; 5 Sinn Fein candidates were elected to the London regimes Westminster Parliament in recent elections. A democratic majority of people in Northern Ireland want re-unification with Ireland. And with the European Union.
news.sky.com/story/those-who-campaigned-to-take-back-control-did-not-appreciate-brexit-might-give-more-power-to-those-seeking-irish-unity-13062774