Deadlock in government in Northern Ireland | “People have had enough”

His father was murdered before his eyes when he was 8 years old. Today, he is involved in politics in the hope of solving the Northern Irish problem. Sinn Féin MP for Belfast North, John Finucane, is in Montreal to carry the Republican voice as his party has just won new elections. The Press the encounter.

On 18th May your party, Sinn Féin (nationalist, republican, for an attachment to the Irish republic) won the local elections in Northern Ireland with 144 seats out of 465, ie 7% more than last time. What do these results tell us?

That people are tired of not having a government in Northern Ireland. 12 months ago, our party won the parliamentary elections. But we haven’t been able to sit because the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party, loyaliste, pro-Royaume-Uni] blocks the formation of an executive. In the meantime, our public services are collapsing. We have the worst health record in the UK. We are at the mercy of cuts from the Conservative government in London, which is slashing education and community budgets. People are angry and they made it known.

It should be remembered that according to the Good Friday agreement, signed in 1998, the Northern Irish government must be led jointly by a loyalist party and a nationalist party. If one of the two parties leaves the table, the assembly can no longer function. Why is the DUP blocking the government?

Because of Brexit. They say the Northern Irish protocol undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. Their arguments were submitted to the Court of Appeal in Belfast and the Supreme Court in London. They were completely rejected.

There were adjustments made to the protocol, what is now called the “Windsor framework”. Not enough to convince them?

Windsor’s setting puts us in a unique economic position that even the Scots envy. It gives us access to both the UK internal market and the European Union market, which represents 450 million people. Still, it’s a dead end.

What scenarios are on the table, if the situation persists?

London doesn’t really have a plan to bring the DUP back to Parliament. If the DUP decides to boycott the assembly permanently, the Irish government in Dublin and the British government may come to exercise joint authority over Northern Ireland, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. This is not some fancy scenario invented to pressure the DUP. It is part of the deal.

The power-sharing system imposed on the Northern Irish assembly regularly shows its limits. When it’s not the DUP sulking, it’s Sinn Féin. This system is at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended 30 years of civil war in your province. Twenty-five years later, can we speak of a failure?

Absolutely not. My father died because of this conflict. Friends have died because of this conflict. I grew up in a heavily militarized environment. But all that has changed. Belfast is a completely different city. Sectarianism has not completely disappeared, but events are much rarer. The agreement has saved lives. And the new generations see things differently. This in itself is a success.

34 years ago your father was murdered before your eyes by loyalist paramilitaries because he was a lawyer for members of the IRA [ex-branche armée du Sinn Féin]. You were 8 years old. We now know that there was collusion with the British secret services. Did you enter politics out of resentment?

I entered politics to get things done, not to solve personal issues. I work for a better future, not just for myself and my constituents, but for this society we share. My mother was Protestant, my father Catholic. I was taught not to favor one side over the other. Losing your father at 8 in such brutal circumstances is very hard. But I don’t have a monopoly on mourning and pain. It’s not just my family who suffered during this conflict. Fortunately, that era is behind us.

Let’s look ahead, then. There is increasing talk of a referendum on the reunification of the two Irelands (border poll) when the “winning conditions” are met. What conditions are we talking about?

Former UK Prime Minister John Major said last week that the UK government needed to make those conditions explicit. Will these be election results? A survey ? Societal indicators? I personally believe that things will change when the Irish government in Dublin works directly with London on this issue. It hasn’t happened yet. But there are elections next year and Sinn Féin will potentially be the next government in the Republic of Ireland. From there, we can prepare for the transition…