Michelle O'Neill says DUP inaction is 'punishing' workers ahead of strikes

Sinn Fein representatives vice-president Michelle O'Neill and MLA Conor Murphy speaking to the media outside Hillsborough Castle after meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Sinn Fein's vice president Michelle O’Neill has said she does not feel “very positive” after meeting with Britain's Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

Mr Heaton-Harris is chairing bilateral talks with the leaders of the main Stormont parties in his latest effort to break the powersharing impasse

The talks are taking place ahead of the largest public sector strike in Northern Ireland’s history on Thursday when workers in 15 trade unions will take part in mass industrial action across health, education and the civil service.

The Assembly has been effectively collapsed for almost two years. The DUP is refusing to participate until unionist concerns around post-Brexit trading arrangements are addressed.

The party has insisted it will not end its blockade until it secures legislative assurances from the Government on Northern Ireland’s trading position within the UK.

Speaking after meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris, Ms O'Neill said: "It’s one year since the Windsor Framework was done. It’s two years since the DUP decided to boycott the assembly and our politics remains stagnant.

“We just discussed with the Secretary of State what he intends to do later this week, certainly whenever we reach the deadline of Thursday January 18, which he originally set to have an Executive restored.

“I can’t say we feel very positive by what we have heard today, but the secretary of state will have to speak to that himself.” 

She said she shared the frustration of members of the public and repeated her calls for the DUP to restore powersharing institutions in Northern Ireland by Thursday’s deadline

Ms O’Neill said the DUP’s “inaction” means that workers are “being punished”.

“The DUP and their inaction and their failure to return to Stormont and join with the rest of us, and actually provide that leadership that people need, (means) that these workers are all being punished, and we think that’s not good enough,” she said at Hillsborough.

“That’s why we wanted to drive home that message with the Secretary of State today. But, clearly, he has decisions to make as to what comes next.

“If we get to Thursday and there still is no restored executive, then there has to be new legislation, and he’s indicated today, that’s what he will do.” 

She called on the DUP to restore the Executive using Sinn Fein’s recall motion tabled this week.

The talks come ahead of Thursday's planned strike action. 

The chief executives of the five hospital trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said the disruption will be on a “massive and unprecedented scale”, with a best-case scenario resulting in a service similar to that offered on Christmas Day.

Nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers will be among tens of thousands of public sector employees taking to the picket lines on Thursday in what unions are calling Northern Ireland’s biggest strike.

Workers are demanding that a pay award made to counterparts elsewhere in the UK is introduced in Northern Ireland.

Stormont’s Department of Health has already warned how services will be affected by the walkout, and a joint statement from Northern Ireland’s health trusts has sounded a similar note of alarm.

The chief executives also backed their workers’ call for a pay increase.

“We are deeply concerned that the planned industrial action on Thursday 18 January will have a profound impact on our services, which are already under enormous strain,” they said.

Sinn Fein representative vice-president Michelle O'Neill speaking to the media

“The disruption will be on a massive and unprecedented scale.

“Minimal and emergency services only will be available throughout Northern Ireland, similar to Christmas Day, at best.

“It is a tragedy that our colleagues, who are the backbone of our health and social care service, feel they have no alternative but to take this action.

“We would repeat our call for all staff to be properly rewarded for their work.

“They understandably feel aggrieved that their counterparts in the rest of the UK have received a pay award, while they continue to work incredibly hard without receiving the same recognition, particularly during a period of high cost-of-living increases.

“To add to their immense frustration, they have been told publicly that funding for a pay award is potentially available, but not yet released.

“As chief executives, we have repeatedly and publicly called for a long-term funding settlement for health and social care in Northern Ireland that addresses central issues including waiting lists, recruitment and pay in a sustainable manner.

“We have been struggling with a system where funding has been allocated on a yearly basis, which makes it impossible to plan for the long term.

“There is so much to put right in health and social care. Much-needed progress has been critically hampered by multiple years of political and budgetary instability.

“As the extreme pressures on the health and social care service continue unabated, the position is increasingly unsustainable.

“We would like to sincerely thank all our staff for their continued dedication in really difficult circumstances.”