Britain and Ireland sought on Friday to restore Northern Ireland’s broken democracy, sparked into action by the death of a 29-year-old journalist and the pleas of a priest for the divided community to come back together.
Theresa May, the British prime minister, and Leo Varadkar, her Irish counterpart, pledged to work with parties in Northern Ireland to revive the devolved assembly at Stormont, which has been deserted for almost two years.
The new-found political will to address the issue came after Mrs May and Mr Varadkar — along with political leaders in the region — attended the funeral of Lyra McKee, a freelance journalist murdered by dissident republican terrorists just over a week ago.
They appeared shamed into action by Fr Martin Magill, a Catholic priest who asked the inter-denominational funeral service: “Why in God’s name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get to this point?”
The so-called New IRA, which rejects the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, accepted the responsibility for McKee’s murder.
The peace deal, which marked the end of decades of violence, was followed by the formation of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the devolved executive, most recently under the Democratic Unionist party and Sinn Féin, which have become the main unionist and Irish nationalist parties in the region.
But the two have been at loggerheads since the Stormont assembly collapsed in January 2017.
On Friday Mrs May and Mr Varadkar announced a new round of talks to seek to restore the Stormont administration, citing the revulsion at McKee’s killing.
“In coming together with other political leaders in St Anne’s Cathedral to pay tribute to Lyra McKee, we gave expression to the clear will and determination of all of the people of these islands to reject violence and to support peace and a better future for everyone in Northern Ireland,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
“We also heard the unmistakable message to all political leaders that people across Northern Ireland want to see a new momentum for political progress. We agree that what is now needed is actions and not just words from all of us who are in positions of leadership”.
McKee was shot during rioting in the Creggan area of the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry, on Thursday last week in an escalation of attacks by dissident republicans.
“Lyra symbolised the new Northern Ireland and her tragic death cannot be in vain”, Karen Bradley, the UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary, told journalists on Friday.
Ms Bradley said the talks would start on 7 May, after local elections are held across the UK. The Irish and UK governments will review their progress at the end of the month.
Disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Féin have focused on whether, and how, to give official recognition to the Irish language.
Unionists insist that the language — a symbolically important issue for Irish nationalists — is already sufficiently protected and a standalone act would be too expensive to implement.
In theory, a breakthrough over Stormont could partially address one of the main sticking points over Brexit.
If the power-sharing executive was re-established, that could provide a sounder basis for UK government assurances to limit future legal divergences between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
DUP concerns about a separate legal order for the province lie at the heart of the party’s opposition to Mrs May’s draft treaty to leave the EU, and in particular to so-called backstop provisions to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Downing Street has sought to overcome the DUP’s objections to her Brexit deal by promising a “Stormont lock” under which laws in the province would only diverge from the rest of the UK if the Northern Ireland executive gave its say-so.
For such an arrangement to work, the Stormont executive would have to be functioning.
However, Mrs May’s efforts to win House of Commons backing for her exit deal have struggled in recent weeks, particularly after MPs voted down the draft treaty by 58 votes last month.
The obstacles to a breakthrough on Stormont may also be difficult to overcome.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, insisted on Thursday that a commitment to an Irish language act was necessary before Stormont could return.
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has called for the restoration of the Assembly to take place in parallel with talks.
“We stand ready to restore our local government immediately and in parallel with a talks process to resolve outstanding issues”, she said on Friday.
