Northern Ireland’s government was restored on Saturday exactly two years to the day it collapsed.
The assembly returned to the parliament in Belfast where its top order of business was to name the Sinn Féin Irish nationalist party’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister, marking a historic shift for the UK-controlled country.
O’Neill is the party’s first-ever first minister and her appointment is considered symbolic for Irish nationalism.
“This is a day of historic change,” O’Neill posted on X on Saturday. “As a First Minister for all, I am determined to work together with all parties to deliver for workers, families and all our communities,” she added.
The recall came after a deal that ended the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party’s two year-boycott over Brexit trade rules.
The DUP withdrew its first minister in 2022 in protest, collapsing the power-sharing structure between separatists and unionists in Northern Ireland.
The DUP will also nominate a deputy first minister who will hold a joint office with O’Neill and have equal power.
The country, separate from sovereign Ireland, was established a century ago to protect the dominance of pro-British unionists who historically wanted to remain part of the U.K and were majority Protestant.
Most Catholics wanted Northern Ireland to unite with the Republic of Ireland.
But there has been a shift among a new generation, including O’Neill, a pro-Irish Catholic, seeking one united country.
Sinn Féin was long shunned by the political establishment because it was the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army — the paramilitary organization that fought a divided country.
Now, it is the most popular party in Ireland.
O’Neill and Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald represent a new generation of politicians not directly involved in the decades of bloody conflict between the two sides.
Earlier this week, McDonald said that Irish unity was “within touching distance,” according to reports.
With Post wires