Northern Ireland

McDonald: Sinn Féin ready to do business on power-sharing deal

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and senior party figures at Stormont Picture by Hugh Russell
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and senior party figures at Stormont Picture by Hugh Russell Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and senior party figures at Stormont Picture by Hugh Russell

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has said she is ready to do business on a Stormont power-sharing deal, warning that time has run out on the political stalemate.

She said while her party was ready to engage "energetically and positively" to find a breakthrough, if negotiations fail then it would be incumbent on the British and Irish governments to step in to fill the political vacuum.

After a meeting with her party's negotiating team at Parliament Buildings, Ms McDonald said: "The current stalemate cannot continue, the current position is simply not sustainable."

A new talks initiative will start on May 7.

Efforts to resolve the political impasse have been injected with fresh impetus following the murder of journalist Lyra McKee by dissident republicans in Derry earlier this month.

The last DUP/Sinn Féin-led powersharing coalition imploded in January 2017 amid a row over the botched renewable energy scheme.

The rift between the erstwhile partners-in-government subsequently widen to take in disputes over the Irish language, same-sex marriage and legacy issues.

On Monday, Ms McDonald said: "We will enter these talks in good heart, in good faith, we will make every effort to arrive at a conclusion but, in the event that we cannot conclude on what are equality issues for citizens, then be very, very clear that the two government as co-guarantors and signatories of the Good Friday Agreement will have to, at that stage, intervene.

"Because time has run out on equality, time has run out on this stalemate, it's not good enough. It's not good enough for any of us. We are very clear on that."

The last ill-fated talks process broke down last February in acrimony amid claim and counter claim on what had actually been agreed.

Sinn Féin said DUP leader Arlene Foster had agreed a draft deal to re-enter devolved government – a claim Mrs Foster emphatically denied.

Leaked copies of papers exchanged between the parties indicated discussions included a three-stranded legislative approach to deal with the key logjam over Irish language protections.

Last month, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill said her party would not "negotiate down" from the February 2018 position.

On Monday, Ms McDonald was asked would she countenance a deal that looked significantly different to that disputed text.

She replied by saying any agreement had to be "anchored in the values of equality and respect".

"This is not about one-upmanship or one-upwomanship – this is about decency, this is about doing the right thing," she said.

"This is about acknowledging our people, all of them, and that is the only sustainable basis for good government."

Ms McDonald said: "We have to avoid at all costs the danger of simply talking for talks' sake," she said.

"We don't need box-ticking exercises. We don't need anything that is superficial or a matter of spin."

"We are ready to do the business, we are ready for positivity, we are ready for dialogue and engagement, and, above all, we are now ready for solutions, because stalemate is not an option into the future."

Ms McDonald said the talks represented a "big opportunity" to resolve the outstanding issues at the heart of the logjam.

"We have an opportunity to establish real, genuine power-sharing institutions that serve every one of our citizens," she said.

"We have the opportunity to move to a new dispensation where no section of our community and no citizen is left behind.

"We hope that others – the two governments and all the political parties – will seize this opportunity."