Irish Prime Minister Martin Calls For Changes In Northern Ireland's Governing System

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2022) Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said that the government system in Northern Ireland should be reformed because of a political deadlock caused by the polarization of its electoral system.

The polarization was caused by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement of the same year. The agreement put an end to 30 years of armed conflict in the island, while the act stipulated the establishment of the national parliament, which was earlier directly governed from London.

"There's a reason why all this (power sharing) came in, in the early years ... there is room for the parties to look at changing the system. The system does polarise and it is not fit for purpose ... the electoral system should not be one that constantly reinforces polarization," Martin told the Financial Times.

The prime minister also said that unionist and nationalist parties have been at odds in a system of "compulsory coalitions" where one side is unable to govern without the other, and called for a reform of the power-sharing mechanisms enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, according to the report.

Martin added that the changes to Northern Ireland's governing system should be reviewed over next 4-5 years.

Last week, UK's Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris vowed to call a new Northern Ireland Assembly election after politicians failed to form a local government.

The situation around Northern Ireland has recently worsened after the nationalist Sinn Fein party, which advocates for the unification with Ireland, won the majority of seats in the assembly for the first time in history. The pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had lost ground among unionists due to its reaction to Brexit and North Ireland trading arrangements. This split the vote between three unionist parties. As a result, the Northern Ireland assembly was unable to elect a new speaker and form a new government, as the DUP refused to do so as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol regulating trade with the EU.

Ireland was separated into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the parliament in 1921. In 1922, Southern Ireland became the Irish Free State, which later became the independent Republic of Ireland in 1948. Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom.