![\"britains-prime-minister-andy-burnham-meets-with-northern-irelands-first-minister-michelle-oneill-left-and-deputy-first-minister-emma-little-pengelly-during-a-visit-to-northern-ireland-as-he-tours\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/.JPEG\")
\n Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham meets with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, left, and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n
TWO WEEKS AGO, speculation was mounting in Northern Irish political circles and the media that Stormont could be on the brink of yet another collapse.<\/p>\n
It was sparked by comments from two senior Sinn F\u00e9in figures, Senator Conor Murphy and party chair Declan Kearney, which some interpreted as a warning that the party was preparing the ground for another breakdown in power-sharing.<\/p>\n
But the talk of collapse \u2013 something people in the North are all too familiar with \u2013 was quickly put to bed when First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill made clear she had no intention of bringing down the Executive.<\/p>\n
The speculation, however, was not coming from nowhere. Stormont still has no agreed multi-year budget, and with little apparent progress following new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham\u2019s visit this week, the question now seems less about whether the Executive is in trouble and more about whether there is a way out.<\/p>\n
Before Burnham\u2019s visit, The Journal spoke to ministers, the leader of the opposition and voters in Belfast about whether devolution can be held until next year\u2019s elections, and \u2013 if either Sinn F\u00e9in or the DUP decides to pull the plug \u2013 whether this time could mark the end of power-sharing for good.\n<\/p>\n
Can Stormont survive until next year\u2019s elections \u2013 and what happens if it doesn\u2019t?<\/p>\n
\n Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham meets with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, left, and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n
Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n
For Sinn F\u00e9in Finance Minister John O\u2019Dowd, the immediate problems facing the Executive come down to two things: money and the intentions of its biggest unionist partner.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dowd had already moved to quash speculation that his party was preparing to collapse Stormont, telling The Journal that Sinn F\u00e9in was \u201ccommitted to power-sharing\u201d.<\/p>\n
But he pointed the finger at the DUP, saying it had been \u201calmost an open secret\u201d in political circles that there had been discussions about its intentions ahead of next year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always been a serious question mark around the DUP\u2019s support and adherence to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement,\u201d O\u2019Dowd said.<\/p>\n
He added that speculation has \u201cheightened\u201d around what the DUP\u2019s next move may be as the Unionist vote looks set to seriously splinter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have reflected that publicly, as have others,\u201d O\u2019Dowd contended.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said that it is easy to be pessimistic about the stop and start nature of Stormont\u2019s delivery, but pointed out that in the last 30 years the North has changed \u201cbeyond all recognition\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has created that change? Politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dowd added that when the Executive comes together to focus on an issue, \u201cwe can make real differences\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The DUP\u2019s Gordon Lyons \u2013 Stormont\u2019s Communities minister \u2013 said any suggestion that his party is moving towards pulling the plug is nonsense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re lashing out. They\u2019re trying to blame other people, and there\u2019s a long list of people that they have been blaming. They blame the Labour government. Likewise, they\u2019ve blamed Conservative governments, they are not prepared to take responsibility for themselves,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n
While Sinn F\u00e9in have accused the DUP of \u201ceconomic illiteracy\u201d, Lyons says that they themselves have demonstrated an aversion for negotiations and tough politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a power-sharing arrangement, you have to sit down and work these things out. When Sinn F\u00e9in don\u2019t get their way, they stamp their feet and blame other people,\u201d he insists.<\/p>\n
The two parties have clashed majorly on the \u2018Good Jobs Bill\u2019, which would reform employment rights in the North, end zero-hour contracts and offer additional parental leave.<\/p>\n
The DUP has blocked the legislation, accused of playing a game of political tactics with an important issue \u2013 but that\u2019s not how Lyons sees it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve offered a compromise, and Sinn F\u00e9in refused it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
(The DUP offered to fast-track certain elements of the legislation if Sinn F\u00e9in agreed to drop trade union provisions that the DUP views as bad for business.)<\/p>\n
Speaking to both men, it\u2019s clear that they believe the other\u2019s party is totally at fault for the current dysfunction at Stormont.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fairly clear to the public that the relationships between the two largest parties are toxic, sniping, filled with petty squabbles, allegations and counter-allegations,\u201d social policy professor with University of Ulster Deirdre Heenan says.<\/p>\n
She argues that this behaviour is leaving voters wondering what difference Stormont makes at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a feeling that we are moribund, and that we keep going, but no problems actually get addressed or fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Heenan, the most pressing question is not whether Sinn F\u00e9in or the DUP will walk away in advance of the next elections, it\u2019s whether the Stormont system is viable anymore at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public in Northern Ireland are being asked to take a choice between no government, where someone collapses the government and we are in a long period of drift and decay, or bad government,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose aren\u2019t great choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mid-Ulster Councillor Denise Johnston told The Journal that there is a risk of either of the two largest parties collapsing the executive if they feel it will bolster their position come the next election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnston said that what local councils can achieve in the absence of a sitting Stormont is hugely constrained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncillors get tarred by the same brush as the MLAs, and it lowers people\u2019s confidence in politics and politicians all round,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnston said that council initiatives \u2013 like Mid-Ulster\u2019s campaign to stop school buses being overtaken in high speed limit areas \u2013 cannot inspire further legislative change with no Ministers in place to lobby.<\/p>\n
She further pointed out that without an executive it\u2019s the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland who sets local authority rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is that it\u2019s used to pressure the parties to go back into government so last time\u2026 it was set very high. That impacted people in the middle of a cost of living crisis, and would again,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SDLP MLA Matthew O\u2019Toole says that reform is the only way forward (his position as opposition leader has only existed for the past 10 years, and is itself the product of reform).<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently Stormont exists, but it is not functioning well,\u201d is his grim assessment.<\/p>\n
His party is proposing that the rules be changed on how Stormont\u2019s speaker is elected, the titles of first and deputy first minister need to be equalised, and that the ability of parties to veto legislation needs to be weakened while cross-community protections remain in place.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Toole admits that these changes are not the full overhaul he thinks Stormont needs, but are designed to be realistic in terms of inspiring short-term change.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s his ideal system?<\/p>\n
\u201cA United Ireland,\u201d he\u2019s quick to answer. \u201cBut the way to get to that, in my opinion, is to radically improve the way we govern the North right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot say, \u2018Well, we\u2019re going to have a border poll in three, five, six, 10 years\u2019 and have that as an alibi for not improving people\u2019s lives in the interim.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps more declaratively than any other British PM in recent history, Burnham came out this week and said that a border poll in Ireland is not part of his agenda for the next three years.<\/p>\n
His comments have incensed Sinn F\u00e9in who have accused him of \u201cburying his head in the sand\u201d, while the DUP has taken some comfort from them, saying that Burnham has put the \u201cnonsense\u201d about a \u201cborder poll\u201d to bed.<\/p>\n
In reality, Burnham\u2019s comments change nothing. The Executive has still been left without the additional funding they\u2019d hoped to secure from Westminster, and is facing going into an election next year on that basis.<\/p>\n
For both Sinn F\u00e9in and the DUP, then, the coming months are crucial. Having promised to keep Stormont standing this time, it\u2019s up to Michelle O\u2019Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly to show that it can actually deliver, at a time when people are questioning not just the parties running Stormont, but the institution itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TWO WEEKS AGO, speculation was mounting in Northern Irish political circles and the media that Stormont could be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73961],"tags":[28914,91884,92892],"class_list":["post-207365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-andy-burnham","tag-andy-burnham","tag-dup","tag-michelle-o"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117183578660855743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}