In March 2017 the people of Northern Ireland returned to the polls for the second Assembly election in ten months. The 65% voter turnout, a rise of 10% on the previous year, was the largest in a referendum or election since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. And for the first time in their history, the Northern Irish electorate decided that Unionist parties would not hold an overall majority of seats in Stormont. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is once again the largest overall party. But they now only have one more seat than Sinn Féin.
Northern Ireland’s political history may be violent and bloody, but it was not the gun which determined this particular result. A political scandal relating to renewable energy brought down the last Assembly and the DUP was never able to escape its spectre during the campaign. The election was triggered by the resignation of the late Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister. His resignation was a protest at the handling of the Renewable Heat Incentive by the DUP and the failure of the first minister, Arlene Foster, to resign.
The former Provisional IRA leader’s resignation was presented for political reasons. Yet, because of ill health, it was his last act on the political stage. His departure, before his death at the age of 66, was the most recent step in Sinn Féin’s gradual move away from its violent past
His replacement, Michelle O’Neill, is the first Sinn Féin leader with no history of direct paramilitary involvement. Even though she has significant familial connections with the IRA, she is widely seen as an energetic and effective politician who has embraced the political chance provided by peace. In the weeks that have passed since the election, the significant challenges facing politicians in this devolved power-sharing assembly have become a stark reality. An agreement to form a government is yet to be reached.
But while Sinn Féin and the wider republican and nationalist electorate have taken a further step towards political “normality”, there are those still hanging onto the violence of the past. In the weeks leading up to the election there were near constant reminders of those who still wish for Northern Ireland’s return to the dark days of the Troubles.
On January 13, a husband and wife from west Belfast, both in their 50s, were each shot in the legs. They were believed to be protecting their teenage son from the clutches of the paramilitaries.
