January 2020. Northern Ireland’s main political parties have agreed to a deal that will lead to the restoration of the power-sharing government in the region following its collapse three years ago. The Northern Ireland assembly will sit on Saturday at 1pm and elect new officials including the first minister. On Friday evening, Sinn Féin confirmed that it would back a deal promoted by the British and Irish governments which included plans to put Gaelic on a par with English, its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, announced. The SDLP also said it would support the agreement. McDonald said: “We now have the basis to restore power sharing, and we’re up for that.” She confirmed that the party would nominate ministers for a new power-sharing executive and said Irish language activists should “take heart” over the provisions for Gaelic contained in the new deal. She added that Sinn Féin was “committed” to Irish reunification efforts and to making sure people across the north-south divide enjoyed the same rights. The Democratic Unionist party leader, Arlene Foster, called the deal “fair and balanced”. She conceded there will be parts of the deal that will be challenging for the people that she represents. “But overall and on the whole I feel that it’s a fair and balanced deal … I think people will note that whilst there is a recognition of the facilitation of Irish language, there is also very much a recognition of those of us who are Ulster British and live here in Northern Ireland as well, and there is many mechanisms to strengthen the union.” Foster said the Northern Ireland assembly will sit on Saturday when a new speaker and a new first minister and deputy first minister will be appointed, as well as the other ministers of the executive.
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