{"id":590032,"date":"2026-08-11T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/590032\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:56:12","slug":"sinn-fein-has-no-intentions-of-collapsing-stormont-john-odowd-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/590032\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn Fein has no intentions of collapsing Stormont, John O\u2019Dowd says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in has \u201cno intentions\u201d of collapsing Northern Ireland\u2019s powersharing institutions, Finance Minister John O\u2019Dowd has insisted.<\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Dowd did state that his party has \u201cgenuine concerns about the behaviour and the stance of the DUP\u201d and the impact that it has on political stability.<\/p>\n

A unionist minister has added that he does not believe there is any \u201cimminent danger\u201d that the political institutions could be suspended.<\/p>\n

Recently, Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Conor Murphy warned that powersharing at Stormont is in a \u201cprecarious place\u201d, stating that the largest unionist party, the DUP, \u201cdon\u2019t have the political will to make it work\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"NorthMinister of Finance John O\u2019Dowd said his party had no intention of collapsing Stormont (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

The DUP hit back, accusing Sinn F\u00e9in of \u201cinserting instability\u201d into the powersharing government arrangements.<\/p>\n

The Stormont Executive has yet to agree a budget for the current financial year, with parties around the table calling for further funding from the UK Government.<\/p>\n

Fresh Assembly elections are due to take place next year.<\/p>\n

The current Assembly was restored in 2020 following a two-year suspension, the latest in a number of occasions that the powersharing institutions have been collapsed.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in minister Mr O\u2019Dowd joined Ulster Unionist Health Minister Mike Nesbitt on a visit to the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Asked about the health of relations within the four-party Executive, Mr O\u2019Dowd said: \u201cLet me put it on record again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinn F\u00e9in have no intentions of bringing down the Executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Conor (Murphy) was doing was reflecting what is being discussed about in political and media circles, and as an open secret, there are genuine concerns about the behaviour and the stance of the DUP and what direction they are going in, and what impact that\u2019s going to have on the stability of the executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s part, we\u2019re going to turn up every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do everything we can to improve the lives of the citizens we serve, to make a fair and equal society, and continue to drive forward projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RegionalHealth Minister Mike Nesbitt said he did not believe the political institutions were in imminent danger (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

Nesbitt said even single-party governments can struggle.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cLook at Labour after they won the general election in 2024, and what\u2019s happened since.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, a four-party four-party coalition is a big challenge, and there are challenging times.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have to say, since I first sat at that Executive table in June of 2024, I\u2019ve been pleasantly surprised at the level of collegiality that the four parties and the ministers can generate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nesbitt added: \u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s any imminent danger of collapse for the Executive and the Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in has \u201cno intentions\u201d of collapsing Northern Ireland\u2019s powersharing institutions, Finance Minister John O\u2019Dowd has insisted. However,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-590032","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\/590032","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=590032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}