Stormont\u2019s first and deputy first ministers have been appointed after power-sharing returned to Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
DUP leader Arlene Foster resumes the first minister role she lost when the last coalition executive collapsed in 2017 while Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Stormont leader Michelle O\u2019Neill has become deputy first minister.<\/p>\n
Despite the titles, both offices hold equal status in the ministerial executive.<\/p>\n
Ms Foster said she was \u201cdeeply humbled\u201d. The DUP leader said there was plenty of blame to go around for the three-year power-sharing impasse but she insisted it was now time to look to the future.<\/p>\n
Significantly, given one of the key disputes at the heart of political crisis, Ms Foster made reference to an Irish language phrase in a speech that stressed the need to work together going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I visited Our Lady\u2019s Grammar in Newry, the pupils gave me a lovely picture as a gift,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has hung in my office upstairs ever since, just above my shoulder. In Irish, it states: \u2018Together, we are strong\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have many differences. Michelle\u2019s narrative of the past 40 years could not be more different to mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure we will ever agree on much about the past, but we can agree there was too much suffering, and that we cannot allow society to drift backwards and allow division to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthern Ireland is succeeding in many ways. It\u2019s time for Stormont to move forward and show that \u2018together we are stronger\u2019 for the benefit of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Neill said it was a \u201cdefining moment\u201d for the North.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter three years without functioning institutions with the five parties forming the new Executive, it is my hope that we do so united in our determination to deliver a stable power-sharing coalition that works on the basis of openness, transparency and accountability, and in good faith and with no surprises,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to follow in the footsteps of my dear friend and comrade Martin McGuinness taking up the position of deputy first minister, and as joint head of Government I too pledge to follow the example of Martin by actively promoting reconciliation, and building bridges we can all cross to end sectarianism and bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n
All five of the main parties will form the North\u2019s new power-sharing executive.<\/p>\n
Moments before business resumed at Parliament Buildings at lunchtime, the Ulster Unionist Party confirmed it will take up a ministry in the coalition executive while the Alliance Party said it had accepted an invite to fill the justice ministry.<\/p>\n
They will join the DUP, Sinn F\u00e9in and SDLP in the administration. It marks a significant development as the last executive prior to Stormont\u2019s collapse in 2017 did not include the three smaller parties.<\/p>\n
After the landmark deal to restore devolution, the Assembly has returned three years on from the acrimonious collapse of the institutions.<\/p>\n
Power-sharing returned after the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in, the North\u2019s two largest parties, agreed to re-enter a mandatory coalition ministerial executive.<\/p>\n
They have both signed up to a deal, tabled by the UK and Irish governments, that offered compromise resolutions to a range of long-standing disputes on issues such as the Irish language.<\/p>\n
The endorsement of the two parties was essential for the formation of an executive, as peace process structures mean an administration can only function if it includes the largest unionist party and largest nationalist party.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Alex Maskey had been elected as the new speaker of the Assembly.<\/p>\n
The rest of the new ministerial executive will be elected later this afternoon.<\/p>\n
The plenary session is scheduled to last for three-and-a-half hours.<\/p>\n
The \u201cNew Decade, New Approach\u201d deal will also be accompanied by what the UK Government has promised will be a major investment package.<\/p>\n
British Government funding is set to help tackle a host of acute problems facing a public sector that has been floundering amid the governance vacuum.<\/p>\n
One of the most high-profile of those is an industrial dispute in the health service that has seen nurses take strike action on three occasions in the last month.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the deal, the new executive will also take action to reduce spiraling hospital waiting lists; extend mitigation payments for benefit claimants hit by welfare reforms; increase the number of police officers on the beat; and resolve an industrial dispute involving teachers.<\/p>\n
The last DUP\/Sinn F\u00e9in-led coalition government collapsed in January 2017 over a row about a botched green energy scheme.<\/p>\n
That row subsequently widened to take in more traditional wrangles on matters such as the Irish language and the thorny legacy of the Troubles.<\/p>\n