Sinn Féin MP John Finucane has called on DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson “not to waste the momentum” behind talks on the Government’s £2.5 billion package to stabilise finances in Northern Ireland.
The British government has offered the lump sum to settle outstanding public sector pay demands and a new fiscal floor for Northern Ireland, but it is dependent on a restored powersharing administration in Belfast.
Northern Ireland’s institutions require the largest unionist and nationalist parties to share power but the Stormont Assembly and Executive have been effectively collapsed for almost two years amid DUP protest action over unionist concerns around post-Brexit trading arrangements.
On Saturday, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told party members the British government needs to provide “much more” in its offer for the North.
He also said his party would not let “hype, spin and sometimes ill-founded claims” distract it from its own negotiations with the British government to “restore Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and its internal market”.
Mr Donaldson told members those negotiations are separate from the ongoing talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris on the region’s public finances.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Politics Northern Ireland, Mr Finucane said it was time for the DUP to join with other parties and “seize the moment” to return to the Executive.
“It is clear this week there has been momentum. It is clear that the time is now for Jeffrey Donaldson not to waste the momentum, not to waste the opportunity that is present.”
He added: “If he prevaricates and allows this to drift then that will be to the detriment of everyone in this society as we face the pain of more and more underfunding.”
Mr Finucane said there was an “absence of a reason” why the Assembly and Executive cannot be returned, adding: “There is a world outside of the DUP.”
He said Sinn Féin wants to return to the Executive to tackle issues in the public sector.
“In the absence of an Executive, in the absence of leadership being shown by Jeffrey Donaldson, we will be at the mercy once again of the Chris Heaton-Harrises of this world who will happily slice away our services to the point where the system – certainly with regards to health – will collapse.”
Alliance party finance spokesman Eoin Tennyson said the public had been “more than patient” with the DUP as he called on the party to return to powersharing.
“They (the public) have been looking into yet another Christmas with uncertainty about their pay awards. They’re languishing on waiting lists. They can’t get their children adequate support in schools.”
Mr Tennyson added: “I don’t think the public will wear another Christmas where they’re witnessing this kind of pantomime politics where we’re all traipsing back and forth from Hillsborough Castle for talks; they want their politicians working and delivering for them.”
He said it was Alliance’s intention to enter into the Executive, subject to approval from the party’s council.
UUP leader Doug Beattie said his party’s leadership is “intent on going back into Executive”.
Mr Beattie said he was waiting to see the final make-up of the financial package for the region, how the Executive may be reformed and any programme for government.
Asked if it was his personal opinion that the UUP should not return to the Executive, Mr Beattie said that is not where the party stands and rejected an allegation that the party’s MLAs were split five to four on the matter.
SDLP MLA for South Belfast Matthew O’Toole told the same programme that the party will be in opposition following the results of the election: “If we are there by ourselves, we will do the job and look forward to doing the job. If other parties wish to join us, I look forward to working constructively and actively with them.”
TUV leader Jim Allister said the DUP has no mandate to return to the Executive if they are returning to “implement the union-dismantling protocol”.
“That is why the government is so desperate to get the DUP back so that they can cement the protocol by unionist implementation,” he said.
