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A deal to restore Stormont power-sharing has created a \u201cbeachhead\u201d to advance the debate toward a united Ireland, a Sinn F\u00e9in minister has said.<\/p>\nA deal to restore Stormont power-sharing has created a \u201cbeachhead\u201d to advance the debate toward a united Ireland, a Sinn F\u00e9in minister has said.<\/p>\n
Declan Kearney, a newly appointed junior minister in the executive, said the institutions would work as an \u201cengine\u201d for moving to constitutional change.<\/p>\n
But the DUP has insisted it will not tolerate any moves toward reunification and has characterized the deal as good for Northern Ireland\u2019s place in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Mr Kearney, Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s national chairman, said he was confident a return to power-sharing would create the circumstances to deliver Irish unity<\/p>\n
He told RTE\u2019s The Week In Politics: \u201cI see it as an opportunity now to not only ensure that these institutions work in the interests of all sections of society and firmly on the basis of rights, equality and integrity but we have now got a landmark opportunity, a beachhead with which to advance the debate on constitutional change in the island and to take this as an engine for moving forward towards Irish unity and I am very confident that we have the circumstances to achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n
DUP economy minister Diane Dodds disagreed with Mr Kearney\u2019s interpretation and insisted people were more interested in bread and butter issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cArlene Foster (DUP First Minister) said yesterday in her speech that she will probably never agree with (Sinn F\u00e9in deputy First Minister) Michelle O\u2019Neill\u2019s interpretation of the past and we will certainly not agree with any moves toward a united Ireland,\u201d she told the same program on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what people in Northern Ireland are demanding, no matter what tradition they come from, is that we actually work together to deliver on their priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd their priorities are education, they are health, they are growing the economy, they are providing jobs, they are providing training and that is the most important thing to people in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Power-sharing returned to Northern Ireland after the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in, the two largest parties, agreed to re-enter a mandatory coalition ministerial executive.<\/p>\n
Ministers were appointed on Saturday as Assembly business resumed at Parliament Buildings.<\/p>\n
All five of the main parties have entered the executive after endorsing 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 \u201cNew Decade, New Approach\u201d deal is accompanied by what the UK Government has promised will be a major investment package.<\/p>\n
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