‘End of days’ atmosphere at Stormont as party relationships deteriorate

Take Stormont, throw in a looming assembly election, add fresh rows over the Irish language and the ingredients for another Christmas crisis are all there.

It’s certainly a tried-and-tested recipe and one some feel is about to be repeated, with Alliance Party Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir saying there’s an “end of days” atmosphere about the place.

There’s no doubt relations between the largest parties sharing power – Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – are as bad as they can be and have been deteriorating for months.

What was already a difficult form of doing government has undoubtedly been made even harder by the fallout from the Drumcree parading dispute.

When the DUP leader Gavin Robinson said it could not be business as usual at Stormont after First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s alleged lawbreaking by participating in protests blocking the Orange Order from marching down the Garvaghy Road, he meant it.

The party has stopped all joint executive engagements with O’Neill and refused to grant permission for the first minister to attend an economic summit with the prime minister last month.

This week the DUP initiated the latest step in its response aimed at frustrating business with Sinn Féin, moving a veto mechanism known as a petition of concern, in a bid to block Sinn Féin legislation around Irish medium education.

It was immediately lambasted by Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Alliance Party and others who accused the DUP of disrespect and sectarianising the Irish language.

Now where have we heard that accusation before?

Even the most casual observer of Northern Ireland politics can remember the shadow cast over Stormont by the Líofa scandal, incidentally the 10th anniversary of which is next month.

Just two days before Christmas 2016, then-Communities Minister (now Education Minister) Paul Givan cut funding for the Irish bursary scheme, prompting a scathing political backlash.

It was deemed the final straw for Sinn Féin’s then-Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to pull his party out of government just weeks later, amid a major row with the DUP over the botched cash-for-ash scheme.

Sinn Féin later said it would not re-enter power-sharing without an Irish language act, with then-DUP leader Arlene Foster rejecting the demand, saying: “If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more.”

It was a soundbite that set the tone for the election campaign and surge in Sinn Féin support that followed, with the resulting fallout leaving Stormont dormant for three years before its resurrection in early 2020, only to collapse again in 2022 after the DUP pulled out of power-sharing, this time due to the Brexit debacle.

Getting it back after that took another two years.