A road sign welcoming into Northern Ireland is seen on the Irish Border road linking Belfast to Dublin in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, on Oct. 18, 2019. (Photo by Paul McErlane/Xinhua)
Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party has agreed to a deal with the United Kingdom government, paving way for the power-sharing administration to return after two years of hiatus.
LONDON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has agreed to a deal with the United Kingdom (UK) government, paving way for the power-sharing in the Northern Ireland Assembly (Stormont) to return after boycotting the devolved administration in Belfast for nearly two years.
Following a late-night meeting, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said Tuesday that the party's executive had backed a deal with Westminster to return to Stormont power-sharing. The UK government is expected to publish the deal in full on Wednesday, and pass the legislation in Parliament on Thursday.
Donaldson said agreements reached by the DUP, the largest pro-British party in Northern Ireland, with the UK government "provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions."
The DUP collapsed the power-sharing government with the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein in February 2022 in a dispute over post-Brexit trade rules.
A vehicle moves past a billboard in Jonesborough, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, on Jan. 31, 2020. (Photo by Paul McErlane/Xinhua)
The DUP has been in vehement opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the trade solution agreed by London and the European Union (EU) to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the neighboring Republic of Ireland. Under the deal, an Irish Sea border was created between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, meaning goods transported to and from Northern Ireland are subjected to border controls.
The power-sharing model of government in Northern Ireland was introduced in the 1990s as a way of ending decades of violence as part of the Good Friday Agreement. It requires the representation of both nationalist and unionist parties in any government.
Westminster's Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris hailed the breakthrough on Tuesday morning a "welcome and significant step."
"All the conditions are in place for the Assembly to return," he said. "The parties entitled to form an executive are meeting today to discuss these matters, and I hope to be able to finalize this deal with the political parties as soon as possible." ■
