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Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s leader has said she is ready to do business on a Stormont power-sharing deal, warning that time has run out on the political stalemate.<\/p>\nSinn F\u00e9in\u2019s leader has said she is ready to do business on a Stormont power-sharing deal, warning that time has run out on the political stalemate.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou McDonald said while her party was ready to engage \u201cenergetically and positively\u201d to find a breakthrough, if negotiations fail then it would be incumbent on the UK and Irish governments to step-in to fill the political vacuum.<\/p>\n
After a meeting with her party\u2019s negotiating team at Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Mrs McDonald said: \u201cThe current stalemate cannot continue, the current position is simply not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new talks initiative will start on May 7.<\/p>\n
Efforts to resolve the political impasse have been injected with fresh impetus following the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, 29, by dissident republicans in Derry earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The last DUP\/Sinn F\u00e9in-led power-sharing coalition imploded in January 2017 amid a row about a botched renewable energy scheme.<\/p>\n
The rift between the erstwhile partners-in-government subsequently widen to take in disputes over the Irish language, same-sex marriage and the legacy of the Troubles.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Mrs McDonald said: \u201cWe will enter these talks in good heart, in good faith, we will make every effort to arrive at a conclusion but, in the event that we cannot conclude on what are equality issues for citizens, then be very, very clear that the two government as co-guarantors and signatories of the Good Friday Agreement will have to, at that stage, intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause time has run out on equality, time has run out on this stalemate, it\u2019s not good enough. It\u2019s not good enough for any of us. We are very clear on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last ill-fated talks process broke down last February in acrimony amid claim and counter claim on what had actually been agreed.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in said DUP leader Arlene Foster had agreed a draft deal to re-enter devolved government \u2013 a claim Mrs Foster emphatically denied.<\/p>\n
Leaked copies of papers exchanged between the parties indicated discussions included a three-stranded legislative approach to deal with the key logjam over Irish language protections.<\/p>\n
Last month, Sinn F\u00e9in vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill said her party would not \u201cnegotiate down\u201d from the February 2018 position.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Mrs McDonald was asked would she countenance a deal that looked significantly different to that disputed text.<\/p>\n
She replied by saying any agreement had to be \u201canchored in the values of equality and respect\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about one-upmanship or one-upwomanship \u2013 this is about decency, this is about doing the right thing,\u201d the republican leader added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about acknowledging our people, all of them, and that is the only sustainable basis for good government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sinn F\u00e9in leader said the talks needed to be substantive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to avoid at all costs the danger of simply talking for talks\u2019 sake,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t need box-ticking exercises. We don\u2019t need anything that is superficial or a matter of spin.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cWe are ready to do the business, we are ready for positivity, we are ready for dialogue and engagement, and, above all, we are now ready for solutions, because stalemate is not an option into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs McDonald said the talks represented a \u201cbig opportunity\u201d to resolve the outstanding issues at the heart of the logjam.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an opportunity to establish real, genuine power-sharing institutions that serve every one of our citizens,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the opportunity to move to a new dispensation where no section of our community and no citizen is left behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that others \u2013 the two governments and all the political parties \u2013 will seize this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n