LAST UPDATE | 3 Aug 2022

THE SDLP’S MATTHEW O’Toole has rejected accusations that the party’s motion to recall the Stormont Assembly is “stunt politics”.

MLAs have gathered at Stormont today in the latest attempt to restore the devolved powersharing institutions in Northern Ireland.

However, Jeffrey Donaldson’s Democratic Unionist Party will again block the election of an Assembly speaker, meaning no further business can be done.

DUP MLA Brian Kingston called the Assembly recall “stunt politics”.

“These proceedings are not a genuine attempt by the parties opposite to restore the political institutions, rather they demonstrate a willful disregard for the views of unionists and the principle of powersharing itself in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Kingston said the NI Protocol has caused a “deep fracture in our politics”.

“That fracture will continue to grow unless it is dealt with now and is dealt with through arrangements which command cross-community consent,” he said.

He described the Protocol Bill at Westminster as welcome, but said only with its “passage undiminished can our institutions be freed from the dark shadow of the protocol”.

“That point has not yet been reached, and we will want to assess the views of any future new [UK] prime minister before taking any further action,” he said.

“We are democrats, we will appoint a deputy first minister when these issues are addressed, however, at the present time such action would be premature.”

SDLP Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole said: “Are the DUP seriously saying we don’t need a government, that hundreds of millions of pounds can sit unspent at Stormont when people go without support while that cost-of-living crisis bites?

“I think that is frankly unconscionable.”

The Stormont institutions have been in flux since February when the DUP withdrew its First Minister from the devolved executive, calling for the UK government to act on the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

The party has remained firm, resisting a number of attempts to resuscitate the powersharing institutions until it sees progress from the Westminster Government in removing trading barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Two previous attempts to elect a speaker, which would open the way for the nomination of First and deputy First Ministers, have failed.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said earlier that he cannot set out a timetable for his party’s return to powersharing. 

The SDLP, which brought the recall motion, had said the plenary session would serve as a challenge to the DUP to get back to work.

Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill directed her Assembly address at the DUP as she described the party’s block on powersharing as “unforgivable”.

“The DUP are the only party, the only party that are blocking and preventing the executive being formed, preventing the executive meeting that would allow us to distribute money to help workers and families,” she said.

So let me say to you, even at this late hour today: workers need help, families need help, businesses need help and you’re continuing to punish the public that we’re elected to serve by your continued refusal to govern with the rest of us.

She added: “I would encourage you to join the rest of us and actually form a government because your actions and the actions of the Tory Government are damaging, they’re damaging to ordinary people, they’re damaging to politics, and they’re damaging to our economy.” 

Newly elected Alliance MLA Patrick Brown, in his first address, called for reform to “put an end to ransom politics”. 

He said it was no longer tenable for one party to be able to block the formation of an assembly and executive.

“Until this place can operate in a mature and democratic fashion, our ability to deal with situations like the cost-of-living crisis will continue to be curtailed,” he said.

He branded the situation a “scandal”, adding: “The blame for that scandal rests solely on the shoulders of the DUP.”

A motion to debate the cost-of-living crisis has also been scheduled for the Assembly session today, but this will not proceed without the election of a speaker.

SDLP Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole had said it was “outrageously cruel” for the Assembly not to be functioning at a time when families were struggling with rising prices.

The recalled sitting of the Assembly was originally due to take place last week but was postponed following the death of David Trimble, one of the key architects of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

TUV leader Jim Allister said today that there was a straightforward reason why the Assembly recall was only a “stunt sitting”. 

“That very straightforward reason is the protocol,” he said. 

He said many MLAs did not want to face “reality” that the protocol was incompatible with Northern Ireland’s constitutional position as an “integral part of the United Kingdom”.

“There’s too many in this House who don’t want to face that reality and don’t want to face the political reality that because GB is now regarded in trading terms as a foreign country that that has constitutional implications which no unionist can come to terms with, no unionist,” he said.

“Which means that the very basis of our Union has been corrupted by the protocol and, as a consequence, no unionist can accept implementing that very protocol because the price of this Stormont now is to implement those checks, is to implement this protocol.”

Additional reporting by Orla Dwyer.