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Northern Ireland\u2019s new Secretary of State has held a series of separate meetings with the five main parties in Belfast.<\/p>\nNorthern Ireland\u2019s new Secretary of State has held a series of separate meetings with the five main parties in Belfast.<\/p>\n
Julian Smith met the political parties at Stormont on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith will now lead the all-party talks process in the hope of reaching a deal to restore the institutions in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s meeting with Mr Smith lasted about an hour.<\/p>\n
They spoke about Brexit and the consequences of the UK crashing out of the EU.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald said she pressed him on the issue of Irish unity, adding that she hoped he was the last British Secretary of State.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe have stepped through all of the issues with him and obviously the outstanding rights issues and the issues that need to be resolved to ensure that the institutions can be restored, and that, crucially, we can deliver inclusive, sustainable and good government for every citizen living in this part of Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is aware of the issues. He is aware that they have been well rehearsed. He\u2019s aware that this process of talks and negotiations has, to use his term, ebbed and flowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s also aware that it needs to pick up momentum, that it can\u2019t go on forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has committed that he will deal with all of the parties on the basis of equality and impartiality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs McDonald said she also challenged him on the DUP\u2019s confidence and supply agreement with the Conservatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have said to him very clearly that that relationship has poisoned the water here and has conspired to keep the institutions down,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his commitment to deal even-handedly will be tested in the coming weeks. We don\u2019t need a \u2018yes\u2019 man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said that Mr Smith cannot \u201csop\u201d to the DUP.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does need time to put his feet under the table, but he doesn\u2019t have a lot of time, he doesn\u2019t have weeks. He can\u2019t sit there and pontificate about what his next move is,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He called for the new Secretary of State to ramp up the talks process and give clear structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs to give us a direction of travel, which we have been sadly lacking over the last few months and weeks,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made it absolutely clear to him that no matter what his relationship is with the DUP, he cannot be a sop to their tantrums and cannot be meek and mild in front of Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s intransigence. He needs to bang their hands together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Beattie added: \u201cWhat he cannot do is ignore the smaller parties and think he\u2019s going to bounce us at the very end of this process and expect us to jump in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an issue of governance and an issue of transparency, and we want to see those addressed properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Secretary of State he needs to be proactive and, if he is not, he will fall in exactly the same way as the last Secretary of State fell.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the first meeting between Irish and British government ministers since Boris Johnson\u2019s appointment as Prime Minister, Ireland\u2019s deputy premier Simon Coveney said he stressed the need to restore Stormont.<\/p>\n