Irish Examiner view: Poots' exit destabilises an already fragile Stormont

As one crisis is averted, another one appears

Edwin Poots during the nomination of Paul Givan as First Minister, in the Stormont Assembly in Parliament Buildings in Belfast. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

DUP leader Edwin Poots resigning on Thursday night ushered in a new crisis in Northern Ireland just as another seemed to have been averted.

The Northern Ireland Assembly was restored earlier in the day with the appointment of Paul Givan of the DUP and Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin as first and deputy first ministers respectively.

What should have been a cause for celebration instead provoked an internal party revolt in the DUP.

The party was deeply critical of the 11th-hour agreement to introduce Irish-language legislation and “bedlam” ensued, to quote one DUP source.

Poots’ term as leader must be one of the shortest ever, but the debacle further destabilises an already fragile Stormont.

The only certainty now is that the path ahead will be challenging.

Meanwhile, south of the border, Sinn Féin is enjoying increasing popularity as a new poll shows it has a four-point lead, at 31%, over nearest rival Fine Gael, which has fallen three points to 27%.

That increasing level of support makes it all the more urgent for Sinn Féin to spell out how it would behave in government, rather than be all things to all voters from the comfort of the opposition benches.

Its cavalier attitude to its own role in the voter pollster fraud controversy shows the need to keep Sinn Féin policies under constant scrutiny.