Sinn Féin is today expected to set out how it believes the disagreement around the protocol and Irish language legislation can be resolved.
Leader Mary Lou McDonald will travel north for what has been described as a significant speech at a west Belfast hotel this afternoon.
Ms McDonald said she spoke to new DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson last night and expects to meet him next week.
Other executive parties have criticised Sir Jeffrey’s suggestion that stable government in the north is “not realistic”. In his acceptance speech, he said it is “not realistic to expect political stability when every unionist representative in the devolved institutions opposes the Northern Ireland Protocol”.
Sir Jeffrey, who assumed the DUP leadership on the 100th anniversary of King George V’s speech in Belfast that marked the creation of the Northern Ireland parliament, added: “The government and those who claim to be protectors of peace and stability must step up and deal with the protocol in a manner which respects the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood called for an end to “brinkmanship” from the DUP and Sinn Féin.
“No-one in our community is served by threats to pull down the executive,” he said.
Alliance said it was “not acceptable that any politician should be using their position to amplify those threatening instability”.
Meanwhile, Loyalist Communities Council chairman David Campbell has claimed that the Irish language act is about “removing British symbolism and Britishness in Northern Ireland”.
Interviewed on RTÉ radio last night, the head of the group which represents the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando said: “Every time there has been a failure to implement the original agreement, Sinn Féin use that breach or create breaches themselves to gain further concessions. What we are seeking is a strong and robust unionist leader who will say ‘The agreement was the settlement – we have implemented it faithfully, no more concessions’.”
Asked what Sir Jeffrey should do if Westminster steps in to legislate, Mr Campbell said: “He has made it clear that he will use every political tool available to him to restore the original agreement. That has to include disruption to normal north-south activity. It has to ultimately include threatening the stability of the institutions.”
In other developments:
- The first British Irish intergovernmental conference in two years is to take place in Dublin tomorrow, it was announced last night.
- Former DUP leader Edwin Poots says he was given assurances by the British government that changes to the protocol will be made by early July.
- DUP MP Sammy Wilson compared the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster to a 19th century colonial ruler.
