LAST UPDATE | 19 Jan
SENIOR DUP FIGURES have held discussions on potentially ending their Stormont boycott but party sources downplayed the prospects of a final decision emerging tonight.
The calling of the party officers meeting came amid mounting speculation that the DUP is preparing to make a call on whether or not to accept a UK government deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Downing Street expressed hope the Stormont impasse could soon be resolved while Taoiseach Leo Leo Varadkar described the meeting as a “positive sign”.
The Stormont Assembly has been collapsed for almost two years while the unionist party refuses to participate until its concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements have been addressed by the UK government.
Senior civil servants are running Stormont departments, with limited powers, in the absence of local ministers.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said before Christmas that his negotiations with the DUP over the Windsor Framework had concluded.
Although the party has been holding out since then for more clarification on the UK government’s proposals, it appears to be approaching the juncture when it decides whether to reject or accept the deal that would end the powersharing deadlock.
One senior DUP source said: “It is clear that the time for a decision has arrived. The negotiation is over.”
Any proposed return to Stormont would be expected to be strongly opposed by some of the DUP’s 12 party officers who have made clear that devolution should only be restored when all of their concerns over the Irish Sea trading border have been addressed.
The officer board includes senior figures such as party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, deputy leader Gavin Robinson, senior peer Lord Dodds and longstanding MPs Sammy Wilson and Gregory Campbell.
A DUP spokesman declined to comment on the meeting, insisting he would not give a running commentary on internal party affairs.
In a statement this evening, the spokesman said: “We understand that there has been considerable interest in our meeting today.
“We will not give a running commentary on our position, save to say, we will continue to engage with the government.”
Expectations had been raised before Christmas that the DUP could be poised to return to powersharing, but it did not materialise.
In December, the UK Government offered a £3.3 billion (€3.85 billion) package to stabilise finances in Northern Ireland, including £600 million (€700 million) to settle public sector pay claims.
However, it will only be available when the Stormont institutions are restored and the DUP on Wednesday vetoed a last-ditch effort to restore Stormont ahead of today’s strikes.
Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said of the DUP meeting: “I hope it’s a positive sign. I certainly can’t speak for the DUP, they speak for themselves, but I am hoping it’s a positive sign.
“We’ll be very keen to see the Assembly and Executive operating again. Certainly, our role as the Irish Government will be to do everything we can to make sure that it’s sustainable, that it’s successful.”
Varadkar said there are “some very serious issues that have to be dealt with in Northern Ireland, from public sector pay to the health service to other important issues”.
“If it is the case that the Executive Assembly can be reestablished, we want to make sure that it’s sustainable and successful and we’re willing to work with the British government and all the major parties in the north on exactly that,” the Taoiseach said.
Thousands of public sector workers took part in strike action yesterday, where calls were made for Heaton-Harris to release the funds for pay claims and for the DUP to return to Stormont.
Yesterday a legislative deadline passed for the restoration of the Stormont Assembly.
Heaton-Harris has now said that he will introduce legislation that will aim to see the political deadlock in the region while Stormont remains collapsed.
In a statement released after midnight last night, he said that the legislation he brings in will help devolved Government departments to manage the immediate and evident challenges” that they face in stabilising services and finances. Any imminent return of the Assembly would first require new legislation to be tabled at Westminster.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “I wouldn’t get into commentary or speculation around political party meetings.
“Our focus has always been on delivering for the people of Northern Ireland who rightly expect locally elected decisionmakers to address the issues that matter to them
“We also think we have a strong basis for the restoration of powersharing, so we hope this can be fixed soon.”
Amid warnings earlier this week that the Stormont Assembly may not return for some time, former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said on social media: “Sometimes it’s darkest before the dawn.”
Yesterday Michelle O’Neill, Stormont’s would-be First Minister and the vice-president of Sinn Féin, said that workers should not be “punished” because of the DUP’s refusal “to join with the rest of us and work together for all”.
“The money is there to award them a pay rise, and the British Government should pay them now,” she added.
With reporting by Eimer McAuley and Press Association
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