Sinn Fein is expected to outline the party’s next move after powersharing talks in Northern Ireland broke down.
Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster has urged the UK Government to set a budget and make policy decisions in the absence of a devolved executive at Stormont.
The talks collapsed after the parties failed to clinch agreement on touchstone issues such as treatment of the Irish language.
Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland chief Michelle O’Neill said the party had stretched itself and blamed the DUP for collapsing a process aimed at rebuilding coalition government at Stormont after a 13-month suspension.
The republican party wants a standalone piece of legislation to protect speakers – an Irish Language Act – but the DUP has long insisted it would only countenance new laws if they also incorporate other cultures, such as Ulster Scots.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mrs O’Neill said: “These issues are not going to go away.
“Myself and Mary Lou McDonald are engaged with both governments and will continue to do that and over the course of tomorrow we will set out a more fulsome response in relation to where we go from here.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said “substantive progress” had been made but conceded “this phase of talks has reached a conclusion”.
Mrs Foster said attempts to find a stable and sustainable resolution had been unsuccessful.
She said: “We cannot and will not be held to ransom by those who have refused to form an Executive for over 13 months.”
She added there was no “current prospect” of these discussions leading to a ministerial Executive being formed.
“It is now incumbent upon Her Majesty’s Government to set a budget and start making policy decisions about our schools, hospitals and infrastructure.
“Important decisions impacting on everyone in Northern Ireland have been sitting in limbo for too long.”
Months of endless talks have been held since powersharing collapsed early last year in a row over the DUP’s handling of a botched green energy scheme.
Since then divisions over issues including Irish language rights, same sex marriage and how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s troubled past have proved insurmountable.
Mrs O’Neill said: “Sinn Fein engaged, we worked in good faith, we stretched ourselves.
“We had reached an accommodation with the leadership of the DUP.
“The DUP failed to close the deal.
“They have now collapsed this process.”
The implosion came despite Monday’s last minute intervention by Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who travelled to Stormont for talks with the parties.
The British Government faces the prospect of having to step in and take previously devolved decisions in Northern Ireland.
Stormont departments have been without ministers for months and decisions need to be made speedily about the next financial year’s public spending budgets.
Proposals for dealing with Northern Ireland’s violent past involving extra money for historic investigations and truth-telling processes have also been delayed by the impasse and may fall to Westminster to implement.
Ms Bradley said “substantive progress” had been made but conceded “this phase of talks has reached a conclusion”.
The Irish Government, co-guarantor of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely ended violence, has said there can be no return to the direct rule of the period before that landmark accord.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said in a statement: “I very much regret the statement from the DUP. Power sharing and working together are the only way forward for Northern Ireland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel