The UK's new post-Brexit deal was meant to protect the union... but it could destroy it - ANALYSIS by Millie Cooke
Chris Heaton-Harris full.mp4
The Government's new post-Brexit deal with Northern Ireland is centred around the protection of the union.
Its very title is 'Safeguarding the union', and the command paper setting out the details of the deal repeatedly stresses that Northern Ireland is an "indivisible part of the UK's economic union".
Stormont returned last week after being suspended for two years, as a result of a boycott from the DUP.
The DUP exercised its veto to prevent the assembly from sitting in protest at post-Brexit trading agreements, claiming that checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland undermined the region's place in the United Kingdom.
The party agreed to end the boycott last week after it came to an agreement with the UK Government that smoothed the so-called Irish Sea border.
But ironically, it was this very deal that opened the door for Michelle O'Neil - the leader of a party which aspires one day to reunite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland - to take up her position as First Minister of the Northern Irish Assembly - the first time a nationalist has ever held that office.
The first time a nationalist has ever held that office, her appointment as first minister is a historic moment in Northern Ireland's history.
It comes after Sinn Fein, for the first time in NI's devolved elections, became the largest party in the assembly in elections held in May 2022.
While the first and deputy first minister, a position now held by the DUP's Emma Little-Pengelly, hold equal power under the power sharing agreement - and no decisions can be taken without the approval of both - the symbolism of the role of First Minister cannot be ignored.
Given Sinn Feinn aspires one day to reunite with the republic of ireland, it is seen as a landmark moment for Irish Nationalism.
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It is an undeniably significant moment in Northern Ireland's history, and the implications of it are already being seen. Within just hours of taking office, O'Neil suggested that she expects there to be a referendum on Northern Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom within the next decade.
Asked about the possibility of a referendum on a united Ireland, the new First Minster said the next ten years are a "decade of opportunity".
While there is widespread relief at the return to power-sharing at Stormont, with the deal bringing hope that a functioning executive can heal some of the disruption to public services the last two years brought, there is also a degree of concern that this unprecedented situation could be terminal for the integrity of the union.