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SINN FEIN VICE-PRESIDENT Michelle O’Neill has called on the British and Irish governments to deliver a plan to restore the Stormont power-sharing institutions.
It came as her party delivered a stunning success in the council elections, becoming the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland for the first time.
O’Neill said there now needed to be an urgent meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to plot a route to restore the Assembly.
DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said voters had endorsed his party’s position of keeping the power-sharing institutions down until concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed.
Following a lengthy count process stretching into Sunday morning across 11 council areas, Sinn Fein emerged with 144 seats, an increase of 39 from the last council election in 2019.
The republican party replicated its result in the Assembly election last year when it became the largest party at Stormont.
The DUP has reinforced its position as the dominant force in unionism by winning 122 seats, the same number as in 2019.
The cross-community Alliance Party increased its representation on councils by winning 67 seats, an increase of 14.
It was a disappointing election for the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, with both parties suffering significant losses.
Sinn Fein secured 30.9% of first preference votes, ahead of the DUP on 23.3%, 13.3% for Alliance, 10.9% for the Ulster Unionists and 8.7% for the SDLP.
The elections took place against the backdrop of the Stormont stalemate, with the power-sharing institutions not operating as part of a DUP protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.
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“We suspected from early on that we would do well given the response that we were getting from the voters, but obviously we have gone on to have a momentous election result,” Ms O’Neill told RTE.
She added: “We haven’t had power-sharing now for a year-and-a-half.
“The DUP walked away because they said they wanted to influence the (Northern Ireland) Protocol discussions and negotiations.
“Those negotiations are now complete, so there is no rhyme nor reason for them to stay out of having a locally-elected Assembly and executive delivering good public services for people.
“I am now calling on both governments, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish Government and the British Government, to come together to establish a meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to come up with a plan for the restoration of the Assembly because all the while when the DUP stay out of the Executive and the Assembly public services are suffering, the public are suffering because of austerity, because of cuts that are coming directly from London.
“It is not a tolerable situation, there shouldn’t be any more delays and I want to see a plan on the table as to how we are going to get back around the table to make politics work and to have a locally elected Assembly.”
She added: “Top of the DUP manifesto in this election was that they wanted to restore the Executive, they asked people to vote for them to get back into the Assembly.
Now there shouldn’t be any delay; let’s do that.”
Buckley said holding the same number of seats had been a “extraordinary result” for the DUP.
He told the BBC: “We see a bullying attitude from the Secretary of State, a gang-up from other political parties and a media narrative which laid all blame at the DUP’s door.
“Evidently, the voters have come out and backed the DUP, and backed them strongly.”
He added that his party wanted to see a return of Stormont but it needed to be on a “sustainable” basis.
He said: “It was the number one issue on our campaign manifesto, to restore devolution on a sustainable and long-term basis, and that requires nationalist and unionist consent, because it serves nobody’s interests if we have stop-start devolution on a short-term basis.
“We have stood up to the bullying and bad deals, we have put ourselves forward to get a fair and balanced outcome that can restore devolution on a long-term and sustainable basis. As long as it takes, it’s about getting it right.”
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Mr Buckley said the nationalist vote was coalescing around Sinn Fein and added that unionist voters wanted to see their parties working together to maximise results.
Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson said it had been a fantastic election for his party and said the message was that the Assembly must return.
He said: “Almost 75% of people who cast their first preference votes voted for parties who want to get back to work and I think it is time the DUP reflect on that, listen to what the public are telling them and move on.
“What people want is the Assembly restored and delivering for them, that needs to happen on Monday morning.”
SDLP MP Claire Hanna said her party had suffered a disappointing result but was in a process of modernisation.
She said: “There isn’t any politics around at the moment in the absence of an Assembly, we are not talking about changing people’s lives, about bread and butter issues, and we believe that when governance and outcomes return to politics that that context will better favour the SDLP.
“We are turning around years, possibly decades, of failure to modernise and that requires all hands on deck. A different leader couldn’t have got the DUP back into government, a different leader couldn’t have really matched the financial resources of other parties.”
She added: “We know what needs to happen. The DUP need to take their courage, they need to lead and to give the people of Northern Ireland what they want, and that is governance.”
Ulster Unionist councillor Philip Smith said the challenge for unionist parties was the low turnout of voters.
He said: “The two key statistics of this election were when you compare 2019 unionism had 44% of the vote, that has now dropped to 39% and nationalism is on a par with unionism and I think we need to reflect on that, we need unionism as a whole to think how it grows its offering.
“There is definitely a pro-union majority still in Northern Ireland, the challenge is it is not coming out for political unionism.”
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@DeeM: This article is specifically for people cocooning though. He said people can go shopping but people cocooning is a different set of rule. You exclamation marks are causing more panic.
@DeeM: if a person is cocooning they can not go out for shopping. I leave the shopping in my vulnerable family members garden, another member of the family that has also been staying at home with them removes the packaging if they can and sprays and wipe all the food down before bringing it into the house. Shoes and coats dont enter the main part of the house and are removed in porch.
@Caoimhín: Exactly! ‘Healthy’ people can go to the shop for essentials but the elderly and medically vulnerable people must make alternative arrangements. They must not leave the house.
@brendan fitzsimons: So kind thanks!! Stay safe everyone.. Look after the elderly and vulnerable people in your lives as best you can. Its going to be a hard road ahead but we’ll get through this.
@Keelin Connolly: thats great i am one of those people but so is my daughter so there is no one who can get my groceries what do i do in those circumstances
@Nell foran: contact your local gaa club or garda station if you have no one else, many round the country are helping out. Otherwise try to put a list of at least three other people who could help, doesn’t have to be family, that way if one gets sick you have two in backup
@Nell foran: Seen loads of pics on social media yesterday of Guards doing shopping for older/vulnerable people. The commissioner said earlier if you need help call the local station and they will organise it for you.
@Nell foran: I am also one of those people told I cannot leave the house, by order of my specialists and now the government. Today, I got a delivery from my local supermarket. They left it outside the back door. My friend called with other essentials, again they left it outside the back door while I waved at her through the window. I understand it’s difficult however, I am more susceptible to getting the virus as I have a low immune system. I’m am staying in in order to not get sick and more than likely need hospital treatment and also to not pass it on if i was asymptomatic for a few days. We all have to do our bit as much as we can.
How am I supposed to cocoon, I do fall into the at risk category, I have 3 year old twins to take care of, and a husband who is supposed to go to work because its deemed essential, eventough the company makes knees and hips and all non essential surgeries such as knee replacement surgery, has been cancelled,?
@COYBIG: I feel for you, I really do. But can’t your husband get groceries on the way home from work? If he’s not living with, can’t someone else? If you’re vulnerable, you shouldn’t be putting yourself at risk, for your own sake and your children’s
My wife and I feel a lot safer now. We have already been cocooning for the last two weeks. Family gets the shopping for us. You can only catch the virus from someone else so if you isolate and cocoon you should be safe.
I am minding my mother with dementia who is 80 , up to now just leaving the house for shopping do I now have to try and get the shopping delivered obviously this is all new to me
@Oliver Mahon: no, you can shop for both of you if you’re not ill. If you are, call someone to help. At worst, call the Gardaí!! A lot of us need help, but more are willing to help, whether it’s medicine or groceries, anyone under 70 and not in the category of ‘vulnerable’ can get these for you.
@Caddyshack: I do that sit six feet away from her at all times , separate bathrooms but I have to cook for her etc and just be there for her impossible situation, as she is not capable of the normal day to day stuff, but still coherent enough in other ways
@Oliver Mahon: I look after my dad…hes blind and has many of the underlined conditions…he hasn’t been out in public for 2 weeks…we have been spending the time out in his garden. I live 10 minutes from him…I’m taking every possible precaution to keep him well..and look after my own family…I havnt been in contact with anyone…keeping my distance…its very hard and scarey…
@Edel Mc Nulty: be sensible. if both parents are isolating and neither is vulnerable then they’re is no increased risk by a child going between two isolating households. On the other hand plenty of vulnerable or at risk people and people with symptoms are attempting to isolate from their own children WITHIN houses to avoid spreading this virus. So there may be reasons, perhaps temporary, that it’s not in someone’s medical interest that a child visit.
It’s important though that children get to maintain relationships and support networks during this time so if there is a reason the child can’t visit a parent then plenty of facetime/ phone calls etc and re- establishment of a normal routine as soon as possible.
How are over 70’s with no kids or support supposed to shop for food ? This is too harsh and not possible . Why not institute an hour where only the over 70’s can go out of the houses and shop while we stay at home ?
With food deliveries taking so many days and those over 70 not using the internet this is a bad measure.
@Isabel Oliveira: there are volunteers all over the country offering help. They are coordinated by Covid Community Response. There is a phone number on their webpage.
@Sam Rhodes: i know but it makes me uneasy to lock the elderly at home two weeks straight . It would be more humane to give them 2 hours each day in which they can go for their walk and shopping . Loneliness, lack of exercise and sun can be very harmful for the elderly. The sacrifice should be on us to stay home between say 10 and 12 every day . It would be fairer .
@Isabel Oliveira: phone A L O N E, a charity,set up to support in this situation. Also, your community nurse. Your priest or church leader should be able to organise. All else fails, call the Garda, (police)
@Sam Rhodes, Isabel may not be handy withe internet. Why not go the extra mile and include the phone no.
I’m in the vulnerable category. How can I pay for shopping if they don’t want to accept cash and I don’t want to give my card & pin to someone I don’t know?
@Aoife Leighton: See the little clause – *or any essential/key worker advice should be sought from Occupational Health who can give specific advice on individual conditions.https://t.co/8BvWb5ruQg
So they may be told to go to work.
New York is very short on ventilators. If we have any spares we need to fly them over asap. Don’t we make them here? Can we build excess ventilators anyone? We need to build on mass and send them where that are needed. Can we increase the number we make by upscaling production asap? Anyone know anything about ventilators in Ireland?
@Imagine !: According to Trump, they are making plenty . So that’s that sorted . Likewise England refused the EU help so must be ok. We will need what we can make here , ICU beds filling fast .
@Imagine !: we will need every ventilator we can get our hands on and then some….like Italy the time is going to come when nurses and doctors will have to make the choice of who gets the ventilator and who dies. Most countries even western countries are not ready or capable of handling what’s about to come
@Imagine !: have a look at Open Source ventilators on google. Massive progress being made in and open source cheap ventilator. As regards ventilators in Ireland we make 50% of the worlds total output.
@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala: So you listen to the village idiot from the country that has more live cases on a daily basis and more people dying daily now. Starting a sentence with trump said…… Well it leads to sarcasm at best if not outright abuse. Boris “I shook everybody’s hand” Johnson is another oddball
@Imagine !: look up @AaronDHannon on Twitter. He’s designing ventilators for those countries that desperately need them. The design drawings are nearly finished. He has some go fund me page as he wanted to raise money quickly.
@Gary Kearney: We don’t make 50% of the worlds ventilators. Hamilton (America) produce 15,000 annually while a chinese company produces 3000 per month. Medtronic in galway produced 250 per month before the crisis raising to 500 per month now. There are about 5 more major producers around the world so no way we cpuld be producing 50%
And are HCW who are vulnerable under the list going to be made work? See the little clause – *or any essential/key worker advice should be sought from Occupational Health who can give specific advice on individual conditions.https://t.co/8BvWb5ruQg
What if your 80 year-old rebellious father says that this is a load of rubbish and he will be going out anyway? How likely is it that the Guards will do anything about it if he goes out regardless?
@Kevin Murphy: Maybe do his shopping for him anyway, whether he likes it or not. That will give him 1 less excuse to go out. When/if the situation gets worse and people he knows are on ventilators he might cop on.
Having a child with special needs and a partner who works in a supermarket.
How on earth do I keep her well, what about retail workers, they must be at risk to bringing it back to their families.
I’m on immunosuppressants. How do i know if its “sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection”? Its a bit vague and it’s hard getting anyone to answer the phone. I’m due back in work Monday and I’m panicking a bit if I’m honest.
My wife has a heart condition and is waiting to have a stent put in . Though is only in her fifties and still works full time in her office at home .Does she fall into the cocooning category ?
@christopher banahan: if she’s waiting for a stent yes . Please keep her home as much as she can , unless she’s already taking anti coagulants as a precaution while waiting . It depends how severe it is but ring the GP for advice inclusively it may be of benefit for her to walk gently . Ask her GP ASAP.
This exposes a big gap in modernisation: while it’s very hard to get groceries delivered these days, except from someone helping you out, in Ireland it’s not legally permitted to deliver medicines by post at all.
This is anomalous, as most other European countries permit and regulate this. So if you don’t have someone to go to the pharmacy for you, you better not need any prescriptions.
And even you have someone, you could reduce the number of people going to pharmacies, waiting in queues etc., if this were in place.
@Ed W Couple of things you could do. If you get up at around 5 am with the order ready to go, you may get a slot. . Bear in mind it will be about 2-3 weeks ahead. Do this every week. You can make changes neared to the time
@Ed W : Couple of things you could do. If you get up at around 5 am with the order ready to go, you may get a slot. . Bear in mind it will be about 2-3 weeks ahead. Do this every week. You can make changes neared to the time
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