DUP's Jim Wells: 'I hope trust will begin to break out again' with NI Assembly deal

Jim Wells told RTÉ radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show that the people of Northern Ireland have no appetite for another election.

The longest ever serving member of the DUP, Jim Wells has said that while the deal proposed by the British and Irish governments to restore the Northern Executive and Assembly does not contain all that his party wants, he sees it as a way forward.

Mr Wells told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show that the people of Northern Ireland have no appetite for another election.

The result of the last election had made it obvious that not to reach a deal “would be a plague on both your houses” if devolved government is not restored.

While he supported elements of the Language Act, Mr Wells said he was opposed to the weaponisation of the language that some members of Sinn Féin have used in the past.

I hope trust will begin to break out again.

Unionists have gone as far as they can to meet Sinn Féin’s concerns, he said.

Mr Wells warned that if there wasn’t a move to restore Stormont the political parties would “reap that response” at the next election.