![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/c9d31847-0a16-47a9-8120-07133e70e5ad.png\")
Dealing with the coronavirus emergency has fast-tracked the rebuilding of working relationships derailed by Stormont\u2019s power-sharing crisis, Northern Ireland\u2019s leaders have said.<\/p>\nDealing with the coronavirus emergency has fast-tracked the rebuilding of working relationships derailed by Stormont\u2019s power-sharing crisis, Northern Ireland\u2019s leaders have said.<\/p>\n
The pandemic struck the North less than two months after the restoration of devolution, following a three-year political row between coalition partners the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in.<\/p>\n
DUP First Minister Arlene Foster and Sinn F\u00e9in Deputy First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill, who now lead the new five-party coalition, said they have learned to \u201cdiffer well\u201d during the Covid-19 emergency, so that inevitable disagreements do not divert attention from common goals.<\/p>\n
The leaders, who this week granted the PA news agency behind-the-scenes access to the inner workings of the Executive Office, said the fact that both their mothers were admitted to hospital during the crisis has also created common ground between them.<\/p>\n
Mrs Foster said the crisis has hastened the development of working relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt about that, because when you are faced with something like that you just have to put other things to one side and just get on with the common issue, the big issue of trying to save lives and protect the health service, and that\u2019s what really drove us from late March onward,\u201d she told PA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more important than trying to protect life, so obviously that\u2019s the critical issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there has been the intensity of trying to deal with modelling coming through, and being told what\u2019s going to happen, and if we don\u2019t take action this is going to happen, and if you do take action it might be less bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of that has put us in a position where I think we set aside things that would have been very important to us ordinarily in the set-up of an executive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Neill said she believes her party and the DUP have both gained a better understanding of each other during the last few months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were literally just through the door again, just trying to bed things down whenever it hit,\u201d she told PA.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve heard Arlene joking that we\u2019re nearly practically part of the one family now, because we\u2019ve been working that closely together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the necessity to deal with the pandemic has meant that we have all learned how to work together, and perhaps there\u2019s a greater understanding of each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps that\u2019s another positive in the middle of everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a good working relationship \u2013 that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ll always agree, we\u2019re adults, we\u2019re going to disagree, we have very different political perspectives, but we also have common ground and the common ground obviously is dealing with the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there have been disagreements around the executive table, particularly in the early days of the crisis, when Mrs Foster and Ms O\u2019Neill clashed about a date for school closures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a tetchy start no doubt, things were more strained at the start, but we have had to work our way through our problems,\u201d said the Sinn F\u00e9in vice president.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some things in common clearly. We might come from very different perspectives and different outlooks and different takes on things, but we are both two leaders, two female leaders at that, and two people who are trying to do our best for people right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Foster added: \u201cPeople like to talk about the little bit of turbulence at the beginning of the Covid piece around schools, but I think we\u2019ve manged our way through that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody has said to me, if we differ on things, we\u2019ll have to learn how to differ well, and I think we have learned to differ well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact both of our mothers were in hospital with non-Covid issues, obviously there\u2019s the humanity around all of that,\u201d said Mrs Foster.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are working with somebody every day, of course you have to get on, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt about that.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we have disagreements? Yes, we do have disagreements, but that\u2019s the normal run of things in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThere will always be differences between Michelle and I, fundamental differences because of what we represent and who we represent and our political philosophies, but the common ground was very much saving lives, so we were very much on the same page when it came to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neill added: \u201cYou have to remember we are human beings like everybody else and face the same kind of challenges like everybody else, so the stresses and strains that families have had, we\u2019ve felt them also for our own families, and at the same time we\u2019re trying to manage everything and keep the response going to the crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not people apart, we are two people who have the same worries and concerns as everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n The DUP leader said the dynamic of the new executive would be tested when the coronavirus emergency subsides and ministers refocused on other issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been dealing with the pandemic, and to be fair to all colleagues in the executive, there has been a good piece of pulling together and working together and being focused on what we need to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the challenge will come when we move out of lockdown and into the normal run of business.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say, from the short period we had of that (pre Covid-19) it seemed to be working quite well, we were meeting more often and I think that helps, because if there are issues you can vocalize them and try to acknowledge them and deal with them.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we will see as we move out of this period and into the next period.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neill highlighted that there would be major challenges on the horizon for the executive, on issues upon which parties take fundamentally different positions, such as Brexit and next year\u2019s 100th anniversary of partition\/creation of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a good grounding for building relationships for the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have many, many challenges ahead of us and we need to be able to work our way through them as best we can, and I think we have established a solid understanding of each other and relationships now that allows us to be able to take those things on.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we will always agree, but it means that we have the basis on which to try to deal with things.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been lighter moments amid the intensity of the last few months.<\/p>\n One came this week, when Ms O\u2019Neill was proudly showing her DUP counterparts pictures of a new barbecue and pizza oven she has put in her back garden in Co Tyrone.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a wee outside kitchen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI love it. Given that it doesn\u2019t look like we\u2019ll be travelling anywhere any time soon I needed a wee bit of solace, and my solace is out the back in the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/240efe75-385e-46da-9966-71bcba63e4f1.jpg\")
Share this:<\/h3>