UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are in Belfast to meet Northern Ireland’s new government leader, Republican Michelle O’Neill.
Both leaders arrived at the local assembly, Stormont, in the early morning, where they will be meeting the new political leaders. Power in this British province is shared between Unionists, advocating for maintaining Northern Ireland within the UK, and Republicans, supportive of island unification.
"A very positive day," commented the Taoiseach on entering the parliament. Sunak, who arrived in Northern Ireland on Sunday, has called on the new government to get back to work, and on Monday met with public service workers.
The Northern Irish institutions had been on hold for two years due to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), staunch defenders of remaining under the British Crown. The party protested new post-Brexit trade rules, which they believed, threatened the province’s place in the UK.
However, an agreement was reached last week between London and the DUP, paving the way for a resumption of executive and legislative powers.
Michelle O’Neill, Vice-President of Sinn Fein, became the first leader in favour of unifying Ireland to head the Northern Irish government on Saturday, marking a historic shift in the British province long marred by three decades of bloody conflict.
Under the co-governance of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which ended the conflict claiming 3,500 lives, O’Neill works with a DUP Deputy Prime Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly.
The NI government is in charge of areas such as housing, health, employment, agriculture, and the environment.
London will release £3.3 billion (approximately €3.9 billion) to support public services, recently hit by an unprecedented strike.
However, the new Northern Irish executive has already written to Sunak requesting further funding.
