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Extending negotiations to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland would be pointless, Sinn F\u00e9in has said.<\/p>\nExtending negotiations to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland would be pointless, Sinn F\u00e9in has said.<\/p>\n
Party negotiator Conor Murphy said what was needed was political will to get a deal over the line, not extra time.<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy said if no agreement emerged by next Monday\u2019s deadline then Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith should push ahead and call an Assembly election.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith flew to London today to update British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the state of negotiations to resurrect the defunct institutions, three years after their collapse.<\/p>\n
Back in Belfast there were reports of angry exchanges during a meeting of the main party leaders this morning. One source described it as a \u201cshouting match\u201d.<\/p>\n
The process is continuing in a week that will witness two further strikes by workers in Northern Ireland\u2019s crisis-hit health service.<\/p>\n
Parties are at odds over proposed legislative protections for Irish language speakers and reform of a contentious Stormont veto mechanism called the petition of concern.<\/p>\n
Politicians are also trying to agree changes to Assembly rule to make it less susceptible to implosion in the future.<\/p>\n
The Irish and UK governments are anticipated to table the outline of a deal later this week, and urge the five main parties to sign up to it.<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy rejected the suggestion that giving politicians more time would make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been at this for three years, when is enough time enough time?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
“We don’t need dramatics, we don’t need grandstanding – what we need is political will to get an agreement<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issues have been rehearsed and well-rehearsed for a long time now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy also moved to downplay the significance of the apparent bad-tempered exchanges during the leaders\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get good days and days when people are a little more tetchy, I wouldn\u2019t get overly worried about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s important is what comes out at the end of this process, not about what happens at every junction throughout it.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a deal is not reached by the January 13 deadline, legislation to give civil servants additional powers to run Northern Ireland\u2019s struggling public services expires and Mr Smith will assume a legal obligation to call a snap poll.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in was the only one of the five main Stormont parties to hold a press conference on the state of the talks today.<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy again singled out the DUP as the party he claimed was holding up progress.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister, who is not involved in the talks, said there was absolutely no need, requirement or justification for an Irish language act.<\/p>\n
He claimed the sector was already \u201cover-feted\u201d, pointing to the education of children in Irish.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt wants more, more, more. Why?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the whole agenda of an Irish language act has nothing to do with linguistics, it has everything to do with politics, and the politics of a weaponized demand for an Irish language act is about de-Britishizing Northern Ireland, making it a more uncomfortable place for unionists in their own land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very clear, therefore, no unionist should be conceding anything in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n