A SINN FÉIN motion to recall the Northern Ireland Assembly this week has been successful.
The party’s vice president Michelle O’Neill submitted the petition on January 12 to recall Stormont ahead of mass strike action which is due to take place in Northern Ireland on Thursday, January 18.
Titled Public Sector Pay Settlements, the motion demands that public sector workers receive fair pay deals.
January 18 is also the legal deadline for the Assembly to be restored before a fresh election will need to be held.
Now, following the success of the motion, the Assembly will meet at Stormont tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss it.
Speaker Alex Maskey confirmed yesterday afternoon that 30 signatures had been received - the number required for a petition to succeed.
Prior to the announcement, political parties across the North confirmed their intention to support the motion, which Ms O’Neill claimed her party had “initiated to restore the Executive, and urgently deliver a fair pay deal for public sector workers”.
She added: “It is decision time for the DUP. There can be more delays or no more excuses.
“It is time for positive leadership.”
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood confirmed that the party’s MLAs had backed the motion to avoid strike action.
“Public sector workers have had enough,” he said.
“Enough of pay degradation and struggling to make ends meet, enough of being kicked about in a game between the Northern Ireland Office and the DUP, enough of the constant political failure that always means they lose out,” he added.
“Not one single worker wants to be out on strike this week.
“No one wants to give up a day’s pay, particularly when household finances are so squeezed, to send a message to political leaders."
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long described the recall as “the last opportunity we will have to have a discussion in the Assembly to potentially elect a speaker which would stave off consequences which will follow on Thursday”.
Today Mr Maskey will engage with party whips on arrangements for debates that will take place on the motion tomorrow.
The DUP has refused to return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland since 2022, in protest at post-Brexit trade arrangements agreed by Britain and the EU.
In December talks to restore Stormont failed, despite Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris offering a £3.3billion financial package for the North if its political institutions were restored.
“Almost a year on from the Windsor framework agreement, and two years since the DUP boycott of the Executive began, its endless two-way negotiation with the British Government has run its course,” Ms O’Neill stated after submitting their recall petition.
“Time is being wasted, and essential financial resources to fund our public services now hang in the balance,” she added.
“The public want mature, pragmatic politics, they have had enough of the DUP’s time wasting and inaction."
