The British and Irish governments have reached an agreement to establish a new round of talks involving all the main political parties in Northern Ireland, starting on 7 May.
Theresa May and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, credited the public response to the killing of Lyra McKee with the announcement on Friday of a fresh attempt to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland.
The two leaders said in a joint statement that the journalist’s funeral in Belfast on Wednesday, which gathered all mainstream party leaders under the roof of St Anne’s Cathedral, encouraged them to try to break a two-year political deadlock.
“We … heard the unmistakable message to all political leaders that people across Northern Ireland want to see a new momentum for political progress. We agree that what is now needed is actions and not just words from all of us who are in positions of leadership.”
The new process would involve all the main political parties in Northern Ireland, together with the UK and Irish governments, the statement said.
“The aim of these talks is quickly to re-establish to full operation the democratic institutions of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement – the NI executive, assembly and north-south ministerial council – so that they can effectively serve all of the people for the future.”The Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, and the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, told a joint press conference in Stormont, the site of the mothballed assembly outside Belfast, that the talks would begin five days after the 2 May local elections.
“We have a narrow window in which genuine progress can be made and we must act now,” said Bradley. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
Coveney hailed McKee, saying her death should not be in vain and that party leaders had a responsibility to fix Northern Ireland’s “broken” politics.
The New IRA shot McKee while she observed rioting in Derry last week. The dissident republican group apologised and said its gunman was aiming at police. The killing provoked a backlash against the group and widespread calls for politicians to resolve an impasse that has left Northern Ireland without a functioning government for more than 800 days.
Mourners at her funeral gave a standing ovation when Fr Martin Magill urged political leaders to end the stalemate – a rebuke that went viral.
Power sharing between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) collapsed in January 2017 amid disputes over the Irish language and a renewable heating scheme that reflected deep mistrust and acrimony.
Brexit-fuelled uncertainty over Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland and its future within the UK have hampered efforts to restore devolved government, leaving civil servants to run what some have called a “zombified” administration.
There is scepticism that unionist and nationalist leaders can overcome their differences in the short term. Mutual mistrust is deep and there is little confidence in Bradley’s ability or neutrality to shepherd the process when Downing Street relies on DUP votes at Westminster.
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, and Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, spent much of Thursday trading barbs and reiterating entrenched positions.
Foster repeated her offer of a twin-track approach that would restore devolution to deal with urgent problems in the health service, education and other sectors, and deal separately with politically problematic issues such as same-sex marriage and the Irish language.
She said the DUP could not accede to all Sinn Féin demands, describing such a scenario as a “5-0 victory”.
McDonald welcomed the announcement of new talks but did not hint at any concessions. “These talks will be a test of whether the British government and the DUP are finally willing to resolve the issues of equality, rights and integrity in government which caused the collapse of the power-sharing institutions two years ago.”
One Irish government source said neither party was in the mood to make concessions but each wanted to avoid blame for continued stalemate.
Smaller parties are keen to return to Stormont but hope rules will be changed to break the Sinn Féin-DUP duopoly.
The Social Democratic and Labour party leader, Colum Eastwood, welcomed Friday’s announcement but expressed concern at the lack of a fixed deadline. “We have already seen the DUP and Sinn Féin slip back into comfortable red lines that look great on placards but deliver nothing for people desperately in need,” he said.
