{"id":26214,"date":"2022-05-11T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26214"},"modified":"2022-05-13T09:29:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T13:29:13","slug":"sinn-fein-criticizes-dups-threat-over-election-of-assembly-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26214","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in Criticizes DUP’s Threat Over Election Of Assembly Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Michelle O’Neill (PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in has criticized the DUP\u2019s suggestion that it may choose not to elect a new Speaker when the Stormont Assembly meets on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Donaldson said on Wednesday that his party has yet to decide whether to vote to elect a new Speaker when MLAs meet in the chamber in two days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election of the new Speaker is the first item on the agenda for MLAs following the election and requires cross-community support from nationalist and unionist members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DUP is refusing to return to the power-sharing Executive until its issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol are resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking after a meeting with Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, Michelle O\u2019Neill said the Speaker has to be elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: \u201cWhat we need to see is the positions filled \u2013 First Minister, deputy First Minister, all the ministerial positions filled \u2013 and let\u2019s get down to doing business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is good enough. It is not good enough for the people here that the DUP is holding society to ransom, punishing society, preventing the establishment of a Speaker and an Executive to actually respond to the things people are worried about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is acceptable the position Jeffrey Donaldson has articulated today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson told BBC Radio Ulster that his party will decide by Friday whether to elect a new Speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cWe will be there on Friday. Our members will be there to sign the roll. We will make a decision as to how we proceed. We\u2019ll get the group together and we\u2019ll determine how best to take this forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m waiting to see what the government has to say. So

Buy Clomid Without Prescription <\/a><\/p> , that is the priority right now, to ensure that what the government say is moving us in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m simply saying that we will need to make a decision on that. That\u2019s one of the decisions we\u2019ve got to make.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British foreign secretary Liz Truss is set to tell the EU that the dispute over Northern Ireland cannot drag on, amid concerns in Europe that the UK is poised to take unilateral action on the post-Brexit arrangements in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those concerns are shared in Dublin, and Mr Coveney visited Belfast on Friday for talks with several of the Stormont parties in a bid to break the impasse on a return to power-sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill said her meeting with Mr Coveney had been \u201cconstructive\u201d because Sinn F\u00e9in has a \u201cshared interest\u201d in restoring the Executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is obvious that we made the case that we want the Executive up and running, working on behalf of the people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere should be no more delays. That should have happened by now. We had the election results last week. The people have had their say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage all parties to turn up on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill insisted that the Northern Ireland Protocol cannot be scrapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe protocol is here to stay. There are ways to smooth its implementation, and we are certainly up for that, but the rhetoric from the British government in the last number of days is serving only to pander to the DUP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson also said on Tuesday that he will not leave the British House of Commons to take up his seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly until issues around the protocol are resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, he stressed there is \u201cunfinished business\u201d at Westminster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the government are going to act, then I believe, as the unionist leader, I need to be here to see that through because it\u2019s fundamentally important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a single Unionist Member of the Assembly elected last week who supports the protocol. We can\u2019t go on with that kind of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said he does not anticipate that any DUP candidate who failed to secure a seat in the Assembly will be co-opted to represent Lagan Valley while he remains at Westminster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the seat will not remain \u201cvacant\u201d and that an announcement on his temporary replacement will be made in the coming days.<\/p>\n

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