Northern Ireland: Power-sharing resumes as O’Neill makes history as first nationalist leader

Northern Ireland’s new First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, has promised to be a “first minister for all” as power-sharing is restored after a two-year impasse in Stormont. The Sinn Féin politician is the first nationalist to hold the role in Northern Ireland’s 103-year history. O’Neill, whose father was an IRA prisoner, has previously shown she is willing to reach across sectarian lines, attending the King’s coronation and the Queen’s funeral and raising eyebrows in her own community in the process. The gestures built on those of her predecessor, Martin McGuinness, who shook the Queen’s hand in 2012. Having a nationalist at the helm shows that things are changing, she told Sky’s Trevor Phillips: “All the old norms, the nature of this estate, the fact that a nationalist/republican was never supposed to be first minister. This all speaks to that change.” The DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly has been sworn in as deputy first minister and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement requires that they share power equally. Their distinct job titles may be symbolic, but symbolism counts.