LAST UPDATE | 26 Oct 2022

THERE HAVE BEEN calls for joint authority of Northern Ireland by both the Irish and UK Governments if the Executive and Assembly is unable to be restored, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying that there cannot be a return to “direct rule of the past”.

Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP have said that there cannot be a return to direct rule of Northern Ireland by the UK Government alone and that there needed to be a joint arrangement including the Irish Government.

It comes as it appears no Northern Ireland Executive will be formed by this Friday’s deadline, with fresh elections now likely to be called by NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, said that there needed to be clarity for the public in Northern Ireland as the Executive continues to be blocked.

“Given the uncertainty around the future of our political institutions and speculation around a way forward in the absence of an Assembly and Executive, I think we need to have clarity for people here around the next steps if the DUP continue their boycott,” Eastwood said.

“The prospect of a disintegrating Tory party running Northern Ireland from Westminster would rightly concern people here. They have shown they are totally unfit to govern and any attempt to assert more control here in the form of direct rule would be undemocratic and could not command broad support.”

He said that restoring the Northern Ireland institutions would be the best way of dealing with issues, particularly on the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and healthcare matters.

We cannot allow the situation to drift aimlessly and the SDLP has been firm there can be no return to direct rule from Westminster. I’m asking every party leader to acknowledge the situation facing us and to back Joint Authority from both the British and Irish governments to provide stability in the months ahead.

Sinn Féin deputy leader and First Minister designate Michelle O’Neill said that the Irish government needed to “insert itself” into the joint partnership approach.

O’Neill told RTÉ Radio One: “I think that this will be a time for the Irish government to very much insert itself in terms of the joint partnership approach.

The entire Good Friday Agreement in its three parts is under the co-stewardship of both the Irish government and the British government and I think it’s really, really important that the Irish government would assert itself in the face of us been left without any functional assembly and executive.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said hisparty is “ready to fight” in an election after a meeting with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at Westminster.

Donaldson told reporters there was “still some way to go” in solving the problems over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

He said: “I think the Secretary of State is of a mind to call an election, that is a matter for the Government, frankly I don’t think it helps us to get any quicker towards the solution that we need or to get the political institutions back up and running and fully functioning again.

“We need to clear away the debris of the protocol, that needs to be our focus, we need to get agreement on arrangements that respect Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and that allow for continuing cross-border trade where that is required, and I don’t see how an election helps us to get there.

“But, to be clear, we’re ready to fight in that election, I’ve just been signing off on our election literature, we’re ready to go. If the Secretary of State decides to call the election I’m not afraid to take my case to the people.”

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During Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil this afternoon, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the DUP cannot continue to block the formation of the Executive as part of efforts to restore direct rule.

“Political unionism has to understand that wrecking the institutions of government will not usher in direct rule from London,” said McDonald.

McDonald says that if the NI Executive cannot be restored, there needs to be a period of direct rule brought in.

However, she says that it needs to be done on a joint basis between both the Irish and UK Governments

— Tadgh McNally (@TadghMcN) October 26, 2022

“If the restoration of the executive in Belfast is blocked indefinitely by the DUP, the only alternative will be an arrangement of joint authority between the Irish state and the British state.

“This is in line with the position taken in 2006 by the Irish and British governments when facing into a deadlock situation.”

McDonald called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to engage with new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and ensure that “direct rule from London is off the table”.

In response, Martin agreed that there “cannot be a return to the direct rule arrangements of the past” and that the Irish Government would work under a “consultative role” agreed under the Good Friday Agreement.