{"id":25698,"date":"2022-04-05T09:47:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25698"},"modified":"2022-04-05T09:47:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:47:12","slug":"oneill-sinn-fein-focused-on-cost-of-living-crisis-in-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25698","title":{"rendered":"O’Neill: Sinn F\u00e9in Focused On Cost-Of-Living Crisis In The North"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Michelle O’Neill (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People in the North are currently not waking up thinking about Irish unity, Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle O\u2019Neill has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The republican leader said that while there would come a day when people would vote on the North’s constitutional future, their focus today is on the cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill was reacting to the latest opinion poll on Irish unity, which indicated that fewer than one in three would vote for unification if asked tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments from Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Stormont leader at a pre-election business event in Belfast also came amid claims from the DUP that her party is fixated with pushing for a unity referendum, and was failing to prioritize those struggling to pay their bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Five Leaders, Five Days event, Ms O\u2019Neill also challenged the DUP to turn up on \u201cday one\u201d after May\u2019s Assembly election, to form a new power-sharing executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was referring to the DUP\u2019s insistence it will not re-enter an administration before changes are made to the Northern Ireland Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DUP collapsed the Executive in February when it withdrew its first minister Paul Givan in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Institute of Irish Studies-University of Liverpool\/Irish News opinion poll published on Tuesday found that 30 per cent would vote for a united Ireland if a referendum was held tomorrow, with 45.3 per cent voting against it and the remainder either not expressing a preference or saying they do not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an interesting poll,\u201d Ms O\u2019Neill told business representatives at the gathering in the Europa Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one in a long line of polls. I looked very briefly at the figures this morning, but I don\u2019t think people woke up this morning thinking about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think people woke up this morning thinking about the cost-of-living crisis. I think people woke up this morning around the pressure they feel right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m focused on the cost-of-living crisis, I\u2019m focused now on what I will do in health, I\u2019m focused on what I\u2019m going to do in the Executive on the other side of the election. I\u2019m focused on what I will do with the economy brief. I\u2019m focused on all of these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, there will come a day whenever we will vote on the constitutional question and I will bring my politics to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill said there was no contradiction in Sinn F\u00e9in working within the political institutions in Northern Ireland and also pursing the goal of Irish unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut my focus today is very much on the cost-of-living crisis and getting to the other side of this election, and then trying to form an executive and working with the other parties,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if that meant unity was not a current priority, Ms O\u2019Neill replied: \u201cWe\u2019re not one-dimensional in life. Obviously, that\u2019s who I am \u2013 I\u2019m a republican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere won\u2019t be any secret that I want to see unity in the country, but I am focused for today on the cost-of-living crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the protocol issue, and the barriers it has created on goods moving from Britain to the North, Ms O\u2019Neill acknowledged there was a need to \u201crefine\u201d its implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she said another aspect of the protocol \u2013 the unfettered access it offers local businesses to sell with the UK market and the EU single market, should be used as \u201ckey selling point\u201d to attract more foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, while we refine implementation of the protocol, let us make the most of the huge opportunities offered by our unique access to both the EU and British markets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of her speech focused on what approach Sinn F\u00e9in would take to economic development in the North if it assumes the Department for the Economy portfolio post-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Ms O\u2019Neill declined to be drawn when asked to confirm whether her party would make economy its first choice when it came to the allocation of ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the prospects of a new executive being formed on the other side of May\u2019s poll, the Mid Ulster MLA made a pointed reference to the DUP\u2019s \u201cFive Point Plan\u201d election campaign as she stressed the need for parties to get back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s intolerable that we don\u2019t have an executive and it\u2019s not sustainable to say that there may not be an executive,\u201d she told business leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, this is the democratic process, we\u2019re all fighting the election, we all contest it, we say what we want to do and we ask the public to support us, there\u2019s no point in having five point plans, or six point plans or seven point plans if you don\u2019t intend to be in government to deliver them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be there. I\u2019ll turn up with our team, I\u2019ll be there on day one, I\u2019ll work with others. I want to agree a program for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve a period of six weeks directly after the election in which to form the executive that actually can go on for four periods of six weeks, so conceivably 24 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat should not be the case, we need to be in government on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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