Northern Ireland, O'Neill new prime minister. Towards reunification and goodbye to the UK

Now Ireland is moving towards reunification

Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein's number two, she is the first republican to head the government of Northern Ireland, where until now only unionist 'first ministers' had succeeded one another. O'Neill was nominated by the Belfast Parliament (Stormont), who avoided any triumphalist tone in her speech, focusing instead on a message of reconciliation: “Wherever we come from, whatever our aspirations, we can and must build our own future together. We must make power sharing work because collectively we are charged with leading and achieving our goals for all of our people, for every community.”

However, he then underlined that the appointment of a republican prime minister represents “a new dawn” unimaginable to previous generations who grew up with discrimination against Catholics, O'Neill said, “that state is now no more.” O'Neill will lead the cabinet alongside Emma Little-Pengelly, a democratic unionist who has been appointed deputy prime minister.

The Belfast government came together after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) left Stormont on 3 February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trade deals which it said undermined the region's place in the UK. The party agreed to end the boycott this week after its leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, wrested concessions from the British government that smoothed over the so-called Irish Sea border.