Michelle O’Neill makes history as nationalist First Minister as new Executive installed

Michelle O’Neill was nominated by party colleague West Belfast MLA Aisling Reilly, who spoke of the sense of history as “for the first time an Irish Republican takes up the role of First Minister.”

Accepting the nomination, First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: "Is mór an onóir dom seasamh anseo mar priomhaire. Today opens the door to the future – a shared future. I am honoured to stand here as First Minister.

“We mark a moment of equality and progress; a new opportunity to work and grow together, confident that wherever we come from, whatever our aspirations, we can and must build our future together.

“I am delighted to see every MLA back in this chamber. I welcome the fact that the DUP has decided to re-enter the democratic institutions and that the outcome of the Assembly election is now being respected. I look forward to a plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council shortly.

“The power-sharing coalition formed by the parties here today must now dedicate itself to delivering an ambitious Agenda for Change. I wish incoming ministers well and pledge to work and collaborate with each of you.

“The public are relying on each of us to act in their best interests and to serve our whole community in good faith. We must make power sharing work because collectively, we are charged with leading and delivering for all our people, for every community.

“In common cause we must make life better for workers, families, communities. To create hope and opportunity.

She urged the Assembly to work for the whole community in good faith and with common cause, and to be “respectful of each other”.

“The days of second class citizenship are long gone and today confirms they will never come back,” she said.

"This is an Assembly for all, Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. The public rightly demand that we work together.”

She said regional balance, and investment in Derry and the North West “are essential” as she laid out her vision for the future here.

“For the very first time a Nationalist takes up the post of First Minister. That such a day would come was unimaginable to my parents and grandparents generation. But that day has now come…. Yesterday has gone, today is a new day.”

Michelle O’Neill said she was a Republican and respected the differing allegiances and cultural identity of all as she urged everyone to walk into the future together “in harmony and friendship”.

Derry’s Chamber of Commerce was among the first to congratulate the new First and Deputy First Ministers and said it was “particularly welcome to hear about commitments to the A5, the promotion of regional balance and investment in Derry and the North West.”

Shortly after the 1pm plenary session of the reconvened NI Assembly opened, the DUP’s Edwin Poots was nominated as Speaker, while the SDLP has nominated Patsy McGlone, the UUP has nominated Steve Aiken.

Within an hour of the meeting starting, Edwin Poots was elected and formally declared as the new Speaker of the NI Assembly. Accepting the role, Mr Poots said he looked forward to working with everyone in the Assembly.

He said he was “absolutely delighted” the Assembly was up and running “because there is so much to do out there for the public”.

The former Agriculture Minister also said he hoped the Assembly would never again be stalled.

Deputy Speaker nominations consisted of the Alliance Party’s John Blair, UUP’s Steve Aiken and Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín, with all three receiving cross-community support and deemed formally installed.

Mr Poots was among those who paid tributes to former Speaker and retiring MLA, Alex Maskey. Mr Maskey has represented SInn Féin for 26 years and has been Speaker for four years. SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole said Mr Maskey has been “on the longest farewell tour since Springsteen”, but can now at last retire, as he and others paid tribute to the respectful way he worked cross-community and cross-party.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long meanwhile has been re-appointed to the post of Justice Minister, with many MLAs praising her previous performance in the role.

Sinn Féin, having first choice of the Ministerial portfolios, chose Conor Murphy to head the Department of the Economy, a role previously held by DUP representatives. Sinn Féin’s Caoimhe Archibald meanwhile will be the new Minister of Finance and their party colleague John O’Dowd will be the new Minister for Infrastructure.

DUP MLA Paul Givan has been installed as Education Minister, while his party colleague Gordon Lyons will be the new Minister for the Department of Communities.

Former UUP Health Minister Robin Swann, who was in post during the COVID pandemic, will return to the role after being selected.

Alliance Party MLA Andrew Muir will be the new Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Earlier in the meeting, TUV Leader Jim Allister accused the DUP of a “climb-down of monumental proportions” and said not one word of the NI Protocol had changed.

"To now roll over and become Protocol implementers is beyond comprehension,” he said, claiming there were many in the DUP who were deeply unhappy with the situation.

DUP MLA Paul Givan accused Mr Allister of achieving nothing and contributing nothing towards the restoration of the Assembly, and claimed he was a “dead end Unionist”.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said the DUP should be “embarrassed” and claimed that party put their own interest before public sector workers’ pay and working class communities “and you have been found out”.

Michelle O’Neill hads been First Minister designate but the Mid-Ulster representative has been unable to take up the role due to the DUP boycott of the institutions.

The DUP walked away from the power-sharing government institutions two years ago in February 2022, citing concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements and divergence from Britain.

Three months later in a historic election in May 2022, Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party in the north, winning 27 seats and paving the way for a nationalist leader to take up the top role at the helm of a Northern Ireland government for the first time since Partition a century ago.