Irish Examiner view: Potential election could be a nightmare before Christmas for the DUP

If Micheál Martin's appeal to Jeffrey Donaldson to help restore the Executive falls on deaf ears, the electorate in the North may provide a more compelling voice

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson MP with party colleagues Gavin Robinson MP and Emma Little-Pengelly MLA after meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Belfast last week. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

All credit to Micheál Martin for trying to appeal to rational minds and suggesting that the Democratic Unionist Party helps to restore the Northern Ireland executive ahead of this Friday’s deadline which would trigger fresh, and unwanted, elections during the run-in to Christmas.

On past form, this could be another example of trying to whistle down the wind, with DUP obstinacy likely to prevail. But circumstances are anything but normal, with Jeffrey Donaldson’s party attempting to guess the outcome of the febrile political atmosphere at Westminster and calculate the outcome which most favours them.