MADRID, 14 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin, winner of the recent elections in Northern Ireland, has reproached the government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for its support for the political blockade led by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that It prevents the resumption of the Northern Irish self-government.
The DUP has prevented the election of a new president to the Northern Ireland Assembly to try to force changes to the Brexit Protocol on Northern Ireland which unionists say means the effective customs separation of Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Johnson “is in cahoots with the DUP” to hinder the formation of a government in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has assured. The PM is “recklessly and cynically” supporting the DUP in a “calculated game” over the Brexit Protocol.
This Saturday the highest governing body of Sinn Féin (ard chomhairle) met in Dublin and Johnson is scheduled to visit Belfast on Monday to meet with the leaders of the region.
“The DUP has not only prevented the formation of a government, but also tries to veto the operation of the Assembly. It is outrageous,” added McDonald. “And the British government has helped the DUP in this blocking tactic. They must desist and when we meet Boris Johnson on Monday we will make that very clear to them,” she stressed.
In addition, he has warned of the “danger” that London takes a unilateral decision on the Protocol. “We are going to make it clear that the Protocol is not going to disappear. It is necessary for the Brexit that the Conservative Party and the DUP defended to work,” she explained. “The British Government cannot use Ireland as a pawn. We are not going to be collateral damage in the Brexit negotiations,” he stressed.
Sinn Féin led by Michelle O’Neill has won 27 of the 90 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and is the leading political force ahead of the DUP (25) and the Alliance Party (17). The Ulster Unionists Party has nine seats and the Social Democratic and Labor Party has eight seats. The inaugural session of the new Northern Irish Parliament is scheduled for next Friday.
It is the first time that the Republicans have won an election since Northern Ireland’s self-governing institutions were created as a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreements that ended decades of armed political violence in Northern Ireland and the surrender of the Republican Army’s weapons. Irish (IRA).
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