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LAST UPDATE | 3 Feb 2024
NEW MINISTERS HAVE been appointed to the Northern Ireland Assembly after Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill formally accepted a nomination to the role of Northern Ireland’s First Minister, becoming the first nationalist to ever hold the position.
The Northern Ireland Executive returned to business today after nearly two years out of Stormont due to the DUP’s backlash against post-Brexit trading arrangements.
After leading Sinn Féin in the 2022 election, where it took the most seats for the first time, O’Neill has made history by becoming Stormont’s first nationalist First Minister.
Accepting her nomination this afternoon, O’Neill said it was a moment of “equality and progress” and a new opportunity for both sides of the chamber to work together for a better future for Northern Ireland.
“For the first time ever, a nationalist takes up the position of first minister. That such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents and grandparents’ generation, she said.
Because of the Good Friday Agreement that old state that they were born into is gone. A more democratic, more equal society has been created, making this a better place for everyone.
The DUP nominated Emma Little-Pengelly to serve as Deputy First Minister alongside O’Neill in her term as First Minister.
The DUP’s leader is Jeffrey Donaldson but he is currently an MP, not an MLA. Little-Pengelly was co-opted to take his seat in Lagan Valley.
Accepting her position, she said there must a “new approach of recognising the concerns of each other and finding solutions together”.
“We are all born equal and the people who look on this sitting today demand us to work together.”
Business started with the election of Edwin Poots, who was briefly leader of the DUP in 2021, as the new Speaker.
Following this, the ministerial roles have been filled using the D’Hondt system, a method for allocating positions between Northern Ireland’s parties in line with principles of powersharing.
Sinn Féin are entitled to three ministers, the DUP to two, and Alliance and the UUP parties to one each. The parties today took turns to select a portfolio and a minister to fill it.
The role of Justice Minister is allocated separately, though a cross-community vote.
The new ministers are:
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole will be leader of the Opposition.
Sinn Fein requested an adjournment after two ministers had been nominated, before the action resumed. It is understood there had been an expectation that the DUP would select the Department of Finance as their first choice of ministry.
Michelle O’Neill said today that the return of an Executive will allow MLAs to address the “heavy burdens” being faced by households and business due to the high cost of living and to help public sector workers who have been engaging in industrial action.
“Tory austerity has badly damaged our public services. They have presided over more than a decade of shame. They have caused real suffering,” she said, adding: “We cannot continue to be hamstrung by Tories in London.”
She also used her speech to express solidarity with Palestinians suffering in Gaza under Israel’s bombardment and call for a ceasefire.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has congratulated both O’Neill and Little-Pengelly on their roles. In a statement, he said he anticipated an early meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council, which was established under the Good Friday Agreement for cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
President Michael D Higgins said the return to Stormont would “be welcomed by all those who wish to see an effective system of power-sharing”.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris described it as a “great day for Northern Ireland”.
“It’s a great day for Northern Ireland, it’s a great day for everyone here, a great day for businesses across this place and public services here,” he said.
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was among viewers in the public gallery, as well as Fiachra McGuinness, son of the late former deputy first minister Martin McGuinness.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald also travelled to Belfast, saying O’Neill’s new position “shows how things are changing” in Northern Ireland.
This is an historic day.
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) February 3, 2024
It is about the future.
It is about working together to deliver for workers and families, and creating new and exciting opportunities that ensure our children and grandchildren can achieve their dreams and ambitions in life.
As a First Minister for…
Party leaders met yesterday at Stormont Castle to discuss priorities for the new Executive.
A key issue will be dealing with a budget crisis affecting public services. The UK government has offered a £3.3 billion package to secure Northern Ireland’s finances, including £600 million for settling public sector pay claims.
After nearly two years of blocking the return of Stormont, the DUP finally agreed to a deal with the UK government that saw the party lift its block on forming an Executive in exchange for changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Donaldson said he was satisfied that progress was made on reducing red tape created by post-Brexit trade barriers and that the measures would “remove checks for goods moving within the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland and will end Northern Ireland automatically following future EU laws”.
Additional reporting by Press Association and Cormac Fitzgerald
Greed.
@Liam Clifden: They’ll take the shirt off any man’s back….
@Gerard Carey: as Gordon gekko said ….greed is good
Another company who care more about their share holders than their customers.
@Paddy Murphy: tell me a comparison between profit and loss
@Paddy Murphy: Be great if our government could do the same for us.
Really are they trying to close the bars … And just stay at home..
I’ve been drinking pints in Waterford City today for €4.60 a pint of Guinness, same price for a pint of Coors, explain that, I think the VFI are responsible for a lot of the inflated prices.
@sean whelan: Waterford is a good place
@sean whelan: You’ve been drinking pints at that price because the publican has absorbed the cost increase. His profit margins have been lowered because he doesn’t want to lose business. He takes the hit,not his loyal customers. It’s sad to see so many bars and hotels closed down around the country because of the greed of their suppliers. The town centres suffer with so many abandoned but once much loved hosteleries boarded up. Say what you want about alcohol,but it is a fully legitimate business operating a public house. It provides employment,creates a lively atmosphere in a town centre,and is an important factor of providing a social community for those who seek a place to interact with others.
Because they think they can get people to pay it. They will keep on doing it until they see a fall in sales.
This whole VAT excuse from pubs……its a charge they simply pass on to us, this mass wringing of hands in nothing but a cynical ploy – not one of them dropped their prices when the VAT rate dropped and so were trousering the difference. Most put their prices up when the VAT rate increased to maintain the profits they were making off the difference and they’ll continue to do it. The VFI will be solely responsible for killing pubs but like most of Ireland will want to blame someone else.
@Niall Whyte: The 9% VAT rate never applied to alcoholic beverages as far as I know, just food and lodging if I remember correctly.
@Niall Whyte: Jesus not this again. The VAT rate didn’t change on alcohol.
Paid 15 euro in mc daids on Friday what a fu…king rip off for 2 pints,1 Guinness 1 Carl’s berg,won’t be back in fact won’t be drinking in city centre anytime soon,Ireland the land of rip off prices.
@David Clarke: check out the snug, the lark inn and o’reillys on Tara st. Thank me later :)
The pubs in Temple bar are refusing to increase the price of the pint, they have all agreed to leave it at €25.
ireland is a rip off straight and simple ,i was in the uk last week and i went to lunch with a few friends we had 2 pints of fosters and a pint of strongbow while we waited for or meal we had 4 starters 2 soups and a roll and 2 chicken appetisers,4 man courses i think it was 2 gammon steaks with pineapple and a side of veg i had something similar to and irish stew and there was also a steak pie for a total of 53 sterling!! i genuinly thought the server had made a mistake until she gave me the itemised reciept ,yes you read that right, soup and a roll was 3 quid! the mains where around 7 sterling the side of veg was 1,50 and the pints around the 4 sterling mark the same thing in ireland would be well north of 120 euro
@John O’sullivan: you drank Fosters? Crikey!
@John O’sullivan: pub grub in the UK is, in general, vastly inferior in quality to what you get over here (doesn’t justify the gouging that goes on all the same)
@John O’sullivan: The best car market in the world is right next door. Can we access it? no chance. Overloards dont allow it.
@John O’sullivan: you’d no doubt get similar in Witherspoons here, too. Those prices are certainly not typical of the south of England where hospitality is, generally, more expensive than it is here.
Drinking attitudes in Ireland have drastically changed (for the better) too expensive, plus it would be very naive to say that the smoking ban wasn’t a big contribution to the demise of the pub, it has been, nobody wants to spend €6+ for a pint of Heineken in a pub and then be expected to go outside in the rain to have a cigarette! Crazy
@Fintan Pox: Simple. Quit smoking.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: In fairness, there are a decent sized cohort of people/smokers who only have a ciggy with a pint when they go out for a drink now and again. Fair play to them for not getting hooked on nicotine, not easy!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: simple, a coffee table, my drinks at my convenience, my cigarettes on the table, a fire going, watching anything I want on TV. I get to enjoy all those things at home. Good luck to talking to yourself in the pub lol
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: why?
@Fintan Pox: o one gives a flying toss about smokers and rightly so,why should I or anyone else want to breath obnoxious poison into our lungs,get outside and kill yourself in the fresh air,leave the rest of us alone
@David Clarke: but people like you are the very ones who complain about the cost of smokers on the public health system. Unfortunately, politicians don’t give a toss about smokers either. It’s a very foolish approach to public health. We should cherish all citizens and do our very best to help smokers quit with harm reduction like vaping.
@David Clarke: a glass of Guinness and home? Nobody wanted the stupid ban only obnoxious people with a vanity problem, you probably took the vaccination too
@David Clarke: i suspect would rather breath the smoke alone than talk to you in clean air dave
One of the biggest bug-bear’s I have is people in pubs tapping their card/phone for pints. Anecdotally I’d say 70% to 80% of customers now do it. Think folks! You are adding to the price of a pint with these practices – the publican has to build in a bank charge for you using your card into the price – this affects everyone, including the cash-paying customer. Stop it please.
@Laois Weather: So,you’re saying pay in cash instead? Great,pay in cash and you pay the same price for those who use contactless.
@Larry Betts: yes, but you’re missing the point. The person who charges you, your local bar who has a family doesn’t pay a percentage on your card payment. Charging by card costs more than cash.
@Larry Betts: So, pay by card then. That €5 you paid the bar owner last night, it’s worth roughly €4.85 to them.They then take that €4.85 and pop into the service station and fill up with €4.85 to drive home a few customers, tapping their card of course. That €4.85 is worth roughly €4.61 to the service station owner who pops down the bar tomorrow night for a pint. The €4.61 won’t buy a pint. But the bank is up €0.39.
Now, do the same with a €5 note, and see how it goes after just two transactions.
@Laois Weather: cash isn’t free. Banks charge to lodge cash and to withdraw cash and then charge for coins, too. Then there’s the security issues associated with holding cash and the inconvenience of travelling constantly to and from bank. Unless someone is hiding money, card transactions are not more expensive to the vendor than cash. Businesses that only accept cash are 100% hiding income.
No customers, no shareholders
@N D K: lovely
Greed of this government taxation to the last on every single thing ,the government are distroying this country its no longer competitive, you can’t even go stay in a hotel in Ireland for a weekend without it costing you the same price as a Weeks holiday abroad .tourism is finished in this country our government would rather spend billions housing migrants in hotels than dropping vat rates and fill our countrys hotels restaurants and bars up with money spending tourists .
@M G: Western seaboard where Tourism is vital for the economy & for survival has been destroyed by this Govt. Along the Western seaboard all associated businesses that depended on the tourists in hotels for spin off business are now closed or are on verge of closing. Hotels are full of Migrants, tour buses have gone elsewhere, Roderic O Gorman has killed off the Tourism industry in less than two years, a business that took decades to build & now locals have no jobs & are competing with Migrants for jobs, school places, GP availability. It has lead to societal breakdown & division.
Congrats Roderic.
12 euro for two pints of Guinness tonight. No wonder the pub was empty. It’s over for the pubs and clubs.
Who cares? Free the green!
There is a monopoly here with Diageo,C and C and Heineken .
I work in Germany and we drink local beer and the prices are good , around 5€ a pint.
I am not saying we should go local what I am saying is there the beers we drink are not the best but they have been marketed as if they are .
@Marty OMeara: In Dublin Guinness is the local beer.
@Deano: Guinness is cheaper down the country.
There was a fella called Charles Boycott….
@Charles Kingston: Yes, the pubs should ban selling Guinness until they reverse the price rise.
To stop us drinking of course…we all know rising the price saves us from ourselves ;-)
Stop buying it. There greedy. 5 euro all pint should be in whole country.
Lovely times out and about a year ago, the Dutch know how to party, not a Fianna Fail nanny state, could go into a pub in a designated smoking section of the bar, very good ventilation. Ireland is the only country in the world, to have a blanket ban on smoking, and pubs struggling! Lol
Shooting themselves in the foot.
So for a 6 euro pint Diageo (who makes the pints) gets about €1.50, the publican (who sells the pints) about €2.50 and the taxman gets €2 (for doing nothing)
Because people will continue to pay it?
@Oh Mammy: Ireland, land of the gullible
They’re probably keep raising the price until people stop buying it… then they’ll reduce the price to what or was just before people stopped buying it. It’s called “testing what the market will bear”
Because they know the Irish will still pay it.
@Shane O Mac: I think it’s because they know the tourists will pay it.
The Irish are mere collateral damage.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: the Irish are paying for a lot of other things as well, and we still put up with it. We do nothing about it
Earlier tonight I got €5.40 back in change from €10 for a lovely pint, few nights away in Co. Sligo……..something ain’t right
The maximum price used to be fixed in Bars by regulation.
They are legally obliged to maximise profits for their shareholders.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: That’s not true at all!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill:Simple . That’s 100% BS
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: complete BS. No such law exists
Let the publicans suck it up. They’ve raised prices in an ad hoc and crazy way since Covid. Customers have no idea now of how much their pint will cost from pub to pub. If only we had old school journalism now. This company raising their charges by 8c is not the story. The story is how pubs jumped from €5 pre Covid to €6.20 plus plus whatever you fancy after. And still have the brass neck to complain about loss of custom and the vat rate on hospitality. It’s draught lager from a barrel. Not liquid gold…or is it?
Am I wrong but is there a price point called diminishing returns if there is its approaching fast
People will complain about the ” price of a pint ” , again , and again , and again. Yet , even with the arse hanging out of their trousers , would still go and pay it. If there’s one certainty in Ireland, people will prioritise money for drink , for better or for worse . It’s just the way it is in this country .
We need to form a union for drinkers, Critical Union of National Tipsy Swiggers, for example. Then said union calls a national walkout at 8pm on a given Saturday night. 1% of the cost of what they would have drank that night goes to the union, a one off payment. Then the union reps can go back into the pub and have a few free subsidised quiet pints on a Saturday night. Aces!
Seriously is it any wonder some people choose to do drugs when out. 100e wouldn’t even get a 20 Yr old drunk these days. But a 2euro tablet would get u there in minutes. People don’t have the money they just don’t have it. Will be no pubs in ten year in ireland. I hate to think what will be.
Because after over and 120 odd years off ffg lying entitled scom anyone within the top 1 percent can do what they like , but the reality shocking thing is , the poorly educated that voted for them
They rise the price because they are greedy. Next, they will give the jobs to non Europeans to reduce the costs, like everywhere
Hopefully when Sinn Fein get in, they will allow smokers some compromise
Greed that’s why. It’s actually depressing.
7.20 for a pint of Heinekin in The Foggy Dew. The bar girl would not even look me in the eye. Drive anyone to drink….at home. A lot of trendy looking heads there drinking/laughing while coming to terms with the realisation they’ll be renting forever.
The more expensive the pint, the less customers, the more expensive the pint etc. The pub is history. Drink at home.
Because they can.
Now shut up and drink their products.
The price of Drinks in this country is gone beyond a joke the VFI are killing all the pub trade and pubs are closing down in droves, where I’m from we used to have 52 pubs in our town 20yrs ago then with the smoking ban the pubs all started closing. We now only have 15 pubs left, the rest are all closed and gone to wreck and ruin we used to have 4 night clubs now there is nothing. I’m not a drinker or a smoker but all these increases are killing the pub trade I used to love going out at weekends now the atmosphere is gone, if something doesn’t change soon we will have lost part of our heritage forever
They are off their rocks
Dirty Jopenses Bistars
“if a pub sells a pint for €6, 23% of that goes to the government in the form of VAT.
€6 – €1.38 = €4.62″
This isn’t correct. If €6 includes 23% VAT, then the price before VAT is €4.87 (6/1.23) and the VAT is 23% of €4.87.
100% greed. Doesn’t bother me I don’t drink any their muck
Because they can.
Who is going to stop them ?
about $14 nz dollars a pint,and brewed in auckland.ALL beer in NZ is costly.
What is the story with Murphy’s now….is it still available? As expensive as a pint of Guinness. Can you still buy a pint of Beamish?
Ffg have collided with the Catholic child and women abusers since the foundation of the state, as yourself why the maternity hospital is been built in Vincent’s and a 400 hundred room children’s hospital, probably the most expensive piece of shit ever built, and the answers are look in the mirror
Because they can. The same for vintners who will charge 6c for diageo increase and 5c or 10c for themselves. With no major competive markets in Ireland they will gouge us senseless. Take mobile phones as a reflection of the markets, each company increases rates by 3% + inflation annually. No competition and no investigations by most regulaters
have your say