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A fresh bid to restore Stormont\u2019s crisis-hit institutions is under way.<\/p>\nA fresh bid to restore Stormont\u2019s crisis-hit institutions is under way.<\/p>\n
Britian’s Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has embarked on a round of bilateral meetings with the leaders of the five main parties, in an effort to kick-start a new talks process ahead of a looming deadline in January.<\/p>\n
If a devolved executive is not resurrected by January 13, legislation that gives the civil service extra powers to run the region\u2019s floundering public services will expire, and Mr Smith will be under a legal duty to call a snap Assembly election.<\/p>\n
The region\u2019s two main parties, the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in, go into the latest negotiations on the back of disappointing election results, many interpreting the UK’s General Election as the public passing judgment on the parties\u2019 failure to restore the Assembly.<\/p>\n
A spiraling crisis in the region\u2019s health service has heaped further pressure on the politicians to get back to work in a devolved legislature.<\/p>\n
Healthcare workers will go on strike on Wednesday in protest at pay restraints and staffing shortages.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith\u2019s first meeting on Monday was with the Alliance Party, followed by exchanges with the SDLP and Ulster Unionists.<\/p>\n
Irish language activists and healthcare workers staged separate protests outside Stormont House as the talks were taking place inside.<\/p>\n
The demonstrations had a festive theme as Unison health union members sang carols, with the words changed to highlight their demands for pay parity with workers in the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n
Scores of children from Irish language schools wore Santa hats as they marched to the front of Parliament Buildings calling for legislation.<\/p>\n
After her meeting, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said a deal could be done ahead of the middle of January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are there to be constructive, we are there to be positive, we are there to deliver an Assembly that actually works for the people of Northern Ireland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have three working weeks to deliver, so this week can\u2019t be about people sitting around and licking their wounds or preening themselves after last week\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe elections are over, we are now down to the hard graft of getting an Assembly functioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means looking at difficult choices and reforms that need to be undertaken so that when that Assembly is up and running \u2013 and I believe it must be \u2013 that it is actually fit for purpose and capable of delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople this week need to be focused, not on the political issues that we have been beating to death for the last three years, we need to be focused on what is going on out on our streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be focused on the fact we have a crisis in the health service, we have an impending crisis in our education system, that our infrastructure is under extraordinary pressure \u2013 those are the very issues that we were elected to deliver on and those are the issues that we need an Assembly to start to address.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the electorate had delivered a message to the politicians that they needed to get back to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have made it very clear they are sick of this \u2013 they are sick of this standoff, it hasn\u2019t solved anybody\u2019s problems, it hasn\u2019t taken anybody off a waiting list, it hasn\u2019t fixed nurses\u2019 pay, it hasn\u2019t done any of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way you do that is by getting into government and taking responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe idea we can be off the pitch any longer is just not acceptable any more. I think the public have made it very, very clear. They want Stormont back up and running.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken said he had raised concerns about the health service during his meeting with Mr Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing we must see is a responsible and accountable government brought back and one where the challenges of the past are identified and that is going to mean significant changes across the board and if we can\u2019t get reformation in the process we have to ask ourselves what\u2019s the point of bringing it back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can\u2019t bring it back by the middle of January we must have proper government in Northern Ireland \u2013 if that is direct rule, then it\u2019s direct rule.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Aiken said it was unlikely a deal would be struck before Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that if there is goodwill I think we might get a deal by the middle of January, but there needs to be goodwill and there needs to be substantial reform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
T\u00e1naiste Simon Coveney will also be at Stormont on Monday for talks.<\/p>\n
Power-sharing imploded almost three years ago amid a row about a botched green energy scheme.<\/p>\n
That rift soon widened and refocused on long-standing disputes over issues such as the Irish language and same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
With same-sex marriage having been legislated for at Westminster earlier this year, the wrangle over the Irish language remains the key stumbling block.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in has made an Irish Language Act a prerequisite of any deal to restore devolution.<\/p>\n
The DUP has expressed a willingness to legislate to protect the language, but only as part of broader culture laws which also include the Ulster Scots tradition.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the renewed political talks involving the parties, senior health leaders, representing doctors and nurses in Northern Ireland, issued a statement outlining their serious concerns about the situation in the health and social care system.<\/p>\n
The British Medical Association, Royal College of Emergency Medicine NI, Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of General Practitioners (NI), Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Psychiatrists NI, the Royal College of Radiologists UK and the Northern Irish Board of the Royal College of Anaesthetists \u2013 which collectively represent thousands of medical and nursing professionals in Northern Ireland \u2013 said they were taking the \u201cunusual\u201d step of issuing a joint statement due to the severity of the situation.<\/p>\n
The groups called on politicians to get the devolved institutions up and running again with immediate effect.<\/p>\n