Michelle O’Neill, the future ‘for all’ Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

A smile full of dimples, a blond square and wise costumes: at 45, Michelle O’Neill, vice-president of Sinn Fein, is on her way to becoming the new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Because for the first time in the history of the Nation party of the United Kingdom, the pro-reunification nationalist party of Ireland sent the greatest number of deputies to Stormont (the Northern Irish Parliament), during the elections of 5 May, the counting of which ended on Saturday 7 May. Until now the leading political force in Northern Ireland, the unionist party DUP (in favor of remaining in the United Kingdom) will have to content itself with the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

For many Northern Irish people, who experienced the Troubles – these thirty years of civil war between Catholics (mostly pro-reunification) and Protestants (unionists) – Sinn Fein remains a toxic party, marked by its past support for the IRA (Irish Republican Army), the paramilitary formation that fought and murdered for the unification of the island. But Michelle O’Neill, born Doris in County Cork (in the Republic of Ireland), belongs to the generation of the return to peace: she joined Sinn Fein at the age of 21, in 1998, the year of the signing of the Good Friday Peace Treaty.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Sinn Fein, in favor of reunification, becomes the first political force in Northern Ireland

Municipal councillor, member of Parliament for Stormont (the Northern Irish Assembly), minister of agriculture and then of health, Michelle O’Neill studied and accumulated experience, in particular that of “power sharing”, this system of compulsory co-management of Northern Ireland between nationalists and unionists, a legacy of the peace treaty. In January 2017, she replaced as Deputy Prime Minister Martin McGuinness, a former member of the IRA then of the Provisional IRA (dissident formation very active during the Troubles), who had become one of the architects of the Good Friday agreements. McGuinness had just resigned and announced, in the process, not to represent himself for health reasons (he died shortly after, in March 2017).

Break with his sulfurous past

“I follow in the footsteps of a giantsaid M.me O’Neill, about his predecessor. But I’ve never been afraid of challenges, I’ve never been afraid to act. » The fact that this woman with no military background was chosen by Sinn Fein authorities to succeed Mr. McGuinness was interpreted as a desire by the party – present in the north and south of the island – to break with its sulphurous past. Michelle O’Neill was favored over Conor Murphy, a former Provisional IRA jailed for possession of explosives in the 1980s. Neill also embodies a certain modernity.

You have 35.08% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.

source site-29