Michelle O’Neill appointed Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister in historic moment
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has made history by being appointed Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister, with US president Joe Biden commending the region’s political leaders.
A power-sharing government has returned as politicians gathered at Stormont to appoint a series of ministers to the devolved executive, two years after it collapsed over the UK government’s deal with the EU.
The Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) Emma Little-Pengelly will serve as deputy first minister.
Under the Good Friday Agreement, the deputy has an authority equal to that of the first minister.
In her speech, which began in Irish, Ms O’Neill said: “Today opens the door to the future – a shared future.
“I am honoured to stand here as first minister.”
Ms O’Neill said she was addressing an “assembly for all – Catholic, Protestant and dissenter” and that the public was “relying” on the members of Northern Ireland’s elected assembly.
She added: “We must make power sharing work because collectively, we are charged with leading and delivering for all our people, for every community.”
Ms O’Neill continued: “As an Irish republican I pledge co-operation and genuine honest effort with those colleagues who are British, of a unionist tradition and who cherish the union… Despite our different outlooks and views on the future constitutional position, the public rightly demands that we co-operate, deliver and work together.”
The first minister also acknowledged that the power-sharing coalition will “undoubtedly face great challenges” but vowed to “serve everyone equally”.
Ms O’Neill in the Great Hall at Stormont before being appointed first minister
Ms O’Neill also reflected on the historic significance of her appointment and said: “For the first time ever, a nationalist takes up the position of first minister.
“That such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents and grandparents’ generation.”
She added: “This place we call home, this place we love, North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, where you can be British, Irish, both or none is a changing portrait.
“Yesterday is gone. My appointment reflects that change.”
Ms O’Neill also spoke about the impact of the UK government’s austerity measures on Northern Ireland, telling the assembly the country “cannot continue to be hamstrung by Tories in London”.
She added: “Tory austerity has badly damaged our public services. They have presided over more than a decade of shame. They have caused real suffering.
“I wish to lead an executive which has the freedom to make our own policy and spending choices.”
Emma Little-Pengelly gives her first speech as deputy first minister
Ms Little-Pengelly then gave her speech, in which she recalled witnessing the “absolute devastation” from an IRA bomb.
She said: “Michelle O’Neill and I come from very different backgrounds.
“Regardless of that, for my part, I will work tirelessly to ensure that we can deliver for everyone in Northern Ireland.”
She continued: “As a young girl sitting in Markethill High School almost 30 years ago, I could never have imagined that one day I would have the opportunity to serve in such a way.
“This is a responsibility and an honour that I will never take for granted.”
She continued: “Like so many across this chamber and throughout Northern Ireland, I grew up with conflict.
“As a child of just 11, I stepped outside my Markethill home on a warm August afternoon to the absolute devastation from an IRA bomb.
“Seared within my experience is the haunting wail of alarms and our emergency services, the carpet of glass and debris, the shock, the crying and the panic that shook and destroyed the place I called home.
“As a child, I didn’t understand the politics of it – but I will never forget the fear, the hurt, the anger.”
Ms Little-Pengelly also said the “horror” of the Troubles can never be forgotten but said “while we are shaped by the past, we are not defined by it”.
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DUP accused of ‘monumental climbdown’
Earlier, former DUP leader Edwin Poots was chosen by members of the assembly as its new speaker.
His party had refused to participate in government at Stormont, arguing that post-Brexit arrangements effectively left a trade border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
An agreement a year ago between the UK and the EU, known as the Windsor Framework, eased customs checks and other hurdles but didn’t go far enough for the DUP, which continued its boycott.
However, the DUP has since forged a deal with the UK government on post-Brexit trade, which party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says has effectively removed the so-called Irish Sea trading border.
Sir Jeffrey’s role as party leader and his resignation from the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2022 means he was ineligible to be deputy first minister.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP
Ms O’Neill said in her speech after being appointed first minister: “We will now begin to seize the considerable opportunities created by the Windsor Framework.
“To use dual market access to grow our exports and attract higher-quality FDI.
“The Windsor Framework also protects the thriving all-Ireland economy, and we must fully realise its huge potential.”
Ms O’Neill’s selection as first minister, made possible after she led Sinn Fein to victory in the 2022 Assembly elections, marks the first time the post has been held by a nationalist committed to seeing Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland united as one country.
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday evening he strongly supported the Assembly’s restoration and commended Northern Ireland’s political leaders.
“As I said when I visited Belfast last year to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the democratic institutions it established remain critical for the future of Northern Ireland, and a government that finds ways through hard problems together will draw even greater opportunity to Northern Ireland,” he said.
“I look forward to seeing the renewed stability of a power-sharing government that strengthens the peace dividend, restores public services, and continues building on the immense progress of the last decades.”
“I am confident that… Stormont’s restoration will facilitate the critical North-South and East-West relations vital to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, and ensure that Northern Ireland will continue to be vibrant and dynamic, defined by unlimited opportunity for all who call it home.”
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Yvette Cooper has defended the arrest of more than 500 people for holding signs supporting Palestine Action.
The home secretary said protesters over the weekend may have been objecting to Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror group because they “don’t know the full nature of this organisation”.
Ms Cooper said that could be due to reporting restrictions on court hearings “while serious prosecutions are underway”.
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A total of 532 people were arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Around half of them (259) were aged 60 and above – including almost 100 people who were in their 70s.
The Met Police said it was the largest number of arrests it had made related to a single operation in at least the past decade.
A woman is dragged away by police officers after attending the Palestine Action protest in Parliament Square. Pic: PA
Ms Cooper added: “Proscription is not about protest around Palestine or Gaza, where we had tens of thousands of people protesting lawfully just this weekend about some of the horrendous events that we’ve seen in the Middle East.”
She said members of Palestine Action have carried out violent attacks, causing injuries and involving weapons and smoke bombs, “causing panic among innocent people” and major criminal damage against national security infrastructure.
The home secretary added there had been “clear security assessments and advice” before Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror organisation in July.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said: “Yvette Cooper and No 10’s claim that Palestine Action is a violent organisation is false and defamatory.
“Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism. Disrupting Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems by trespassing on their sites in Britain is not terrorism.”
Former government lawyer Tim Crosland, now spokesman for Defend Our Juries, which organised the weekend’s protest, told Sky News: “Yvette Cooper is so politically invested she’s going to continue to defend the arrests of people simply protesting.
“There will be more people at the next action, the police will be so aggrieved that they’re having to arrest people holding placards protesting against the atrocities in Gaza while they’re having budget cuts.”
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Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said Palestine Action was proscribed based on “strong security advice” following assessments from a “wide range” of experts across government, the police and security services.
“Those assessments were very clear, this is not a non-violent organisation,” he said.
He added Palestine Action had committed “three separate acts of terrorism” but could not go into more detail as further evidence had been provided in a closed court setting due to “ongoing national security reasons”.
The view above Parliament Square. Pic: PA
Human rights group Amnesty International said it was “deeply concerned” about the arrests this weekend.
Its UK chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, said: “The protesters in Parliament Square were not inciting violence and it is entirely disproportionate to the point of absurdity to be treating them as terrorists.
“Instead of criminalising peaceful demonstrators, the government should be focusing on taking immediate and unequivocal action to put a stop to Israel’s genocide and ending any risk of UK complicity in it.”
A hostile environment era deportation policy for criminals is being expanded by the Labour government as it continues its migration crackdown.
The government wants to go further in extraditing foreign offenders before they have a chance to appeal by including more countries in the existing scheme.
Offenders that have a human right appeal rejected will get offshored, and further appeals will then get heard from abroad.
It follows the government announcing on Saturday that it wants to deport criminals as soon as they are sentenced.
The “deport now, appeal later” policy was first introduced when Baroness Theresa May was home secretary in 2014 as part of the Conservative government’s hostile environment policy to try and reduce migration.
It saw hundreds of people returned to a handful of countries like Kenya and Jamaica under Section 94B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, added in via amendment.
In 2017, a Supreme Court effectively stopped the policy from being used after it was challenged on the grounds that appealing from abroad was not compliant with human rights.
However, in 2023, then home secretary Suella Braverman announced she was restarting the policy after providing more facilities abroad for people to lodge their appeals.
Now, the current government says it is expanding the partnership from eight countries to 23.
Previously, offenders were being returned to Finland, Nigeria, Estonia, Albania, Belize, Mauritius, Tanzania and Kosovo for remote hearings.
Angola, Australia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Uganda and Zambia are the countries being added – with the government wanting to include more.
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Theresa May’s hostile environment policy proved controversial. Pic: PA
The Home Office claims this is the “the government’s latest tool in its comprehensive approach to scaling up our ability to remove foreign criminals”, touting 5,200 removals of foreign offenders since July 2024 – an increase of 14% compared with the year before.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system, which is why we are restoring control and sending a clear message that our laws must be respected and will be enforced.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to increase the number of countries where foreign criminals can be swiftly returned, and if they want to appeal, they can do so safely from their home country.
“Under this scheme, we’re investing in international partnerships that uphold our security and make our streets safer.”
Both ministers opposed the hostile environment policy when in opposition.
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In 2015, Sir Keir Starmer had questioned whether such a policy was workable – saying in-person appeals were the norm for 200 years and had been a “highly effective way of resolving differences”.
He also raised concerns about the impact on children if parents were deported and then returned after a successful appeal.
In today’s announcement, the prime minister’s administration said it wanted to prevent people from “gaming the system” and clamp down on people staying in the UK for “months or years” while appeals are heard.
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