{"id":437211,"date":"2026-05-07T16:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/437211\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:37:12","slug":"window-of-opportunity-for-stormont-reform-before-next-election-martin-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/437211\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Window of opportunity\u2019 for Stormont reform before next election, Martin told"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a \u201cwindow of opportunity\u201d to reform powersharing arrangements at Stormont before the next Assembly elections, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has been told.<\/p>\n

Reform of the institutions featured heavily in the Taoiseach’s meetings with Northern Ireland political parties in Belfast on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said the UK and Irish governments have responsibility to drive the reform at Stormont.<\/p>\n

\"MichealMiche\u00e1l Martin (Bairbre Holmes\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already produced proposals for reform of the institutions going back quite a number of years,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did this week was refresh that and include other concerns we have, for example around transparency around party political financing in Northern Ireland, and other issues that we believe would lead to the renewal of democracy more widely,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue has been finding the momentum and the timing between the two governments and the Assembly to be able to move this forward, and I think the time is now right.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very clear that all parties recognise the current situation where our institutions are constantly destabilised by the threat of collapse and possibility that somebody will walk away, and that we aren\u2019t able to function as a normal government\u2026 I think are issues that most people recognise, and it\u2019s a conversation that we need to have with a degree of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaoiseachAlliance Party deputy leader Eoin Tennyson and Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said she talked with the Taoiseach about the urgency of delivering reform before the next Assembly election in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that people here deserve better than failing government, and government that is never far from collapse,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the Taoiseach understands that argument, and we\u2019ve urged him with the UK Government to convene a process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is momentum, urgency and a window to get this done in good time before the next election.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaoiseachDUP leader Gavin Robinson (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he had not read the Alliance paper on reform, and was \u201cnot rushing to\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said one of the biggest challenges is \u201cwillingness for people to work together\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system in Northern Ireland is built on coalition politics, we have to work with people we don\u2019t agree with, and that also means when we\u2019re in an executive, we don\u2019t get everything we want, and nor does every other party either,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to work together, we have to build consensus. Sometimes you have to compromise too, but the idea that you can change people\u2019s will through structures and proposals for reform is for the birds. It\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a \u201cwindow of opportunity\u201d to reform powersharing arrangements at Stormont before the next Assembly elections, Taoiseach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-437211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}