Michelle O'Neill about to become the first nationalist First Minister
Michelle O'Neill will become the first-ever nationalist First Minister when the Northern Assembly returns on Saturday after two years of collapse.
The Sinn Féin vice-president was the deputy first minister in the 2020-2022 version of the assembly, which collapsed after the DUP withdrew, citing displeasure with the post-Brexit trading environment and the Windsor Framework, which they claimed put Northern Ireland outside of the union.
After months of protracted talks, the DUP this week agreed a new arrangement with Rishi Sunak's government and the legislation giving effect to the so-called command paper made its way through the House of Commons during the week.
That has allowed a plenary session of the assembly be called for Saturday afternoon, where Ms O'Neill will be appointed the first Catholic and republican head of government in the history of the north.
Ms O'Neill and her party were locked in talks with unionists on Friday about how the ministerial positions in the Northern Executive will be filled. Outside of Ms O'Neill, the DUP has not yet signalled who it will nominate for Deputy First Minister, which comes with the same powers. Speculation has intensified that the role will go to Emma Little Pengelly, the Lagan Valley MLA who was co-opted into the seat won by party leader Jeffrey Donaldson, who opted to remain in his seat in Westminster.
Born Michelle Doris in 1977 in Fermoy, Co Cork, Ms O'Neill was raised in the village of Clonoe in Co Tyrone. Her father Brendan Doris was a former IRA prisoner who became a Sinn Féin councillor. She became involved in politics in her teens and in 1998 became an advisor to Francie Molloy, the current MP for Mid Ulster. In 2005, when her father stepped down as a councillor for Dungannon, Ms O'Neill ran for the seat and won.
She later became mayor — becoming the first woman to hold the post in the borough — and in 2007 she was chosen to run for a Stormont Assembly seat in Mid-Ulster. From there, she became minister for agriculture and rural development in 2011 and in 2016 took on the Health portfolio.
In 2017, her mentor Martin McGuinness stepped down as Deputy First Minister in response to the "cash for ash" scandal and Ms O'Neill was named the party's new leader in the North. She would hold off a leadership challenge from John O'Dowd in 2019 before being appointed Deputy First Minister in January 2020.
While Ms O'Neill did not speak to the media on Friday, Mr Donaldson said that the new Executive's priority will be to ensure that Mr Sunak's government gives more than the £3.3bn (€3.86bn) package offered to restore Stormont.
“You will not have to wait long to see the new executive in action, making those priorities clear to the Treasury and pressing them for additional funding which is required," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
He added: “The finance piece is unfinished business which we intend to finish.”
However, SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole who will lead the opposition in Stormont said that his party believes in the power-sharing coalition model, but said that there has never been a "proper opposition". He said that civil services in the North are "in an absolutely terrible state in the North" and his party would hold the Government to account for improvements.
"We need an opposition to hold the Government to account to ensure delivery and transparency," he told RTÉ radio.
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