Northern Ireland power sharing could be 'half a step from its end game'

Eden Wilson looks back at the past week in Northern Ireland politics and what it could mean for the future.

First Minister Paul Givan's resignation has left Stormont in a political limbo.

Bills can still progress through the Assembly, but there is no Executive. A body without a head.

> NI secretary rules out prospect of early Assembly election

Many issues before the Assembly are still unresolved - including agreement on a three-year budget, and there is now doubt over if an official apology to victims of historical institutional abuse can go ahead. 

On Monday evening, legislation which will protect the Assembly from collapse passed and is being fast-tracked for royal assent.

Author and journalist Brian Rowan says that Northern Ireland is “on a bend on the road, and that bend might be taking us in a different direction".

He points out that the last five years have seen unionism lose its overall majorities in Stormont and in Northern Ireland’s seats in Brussels and Westminster. 

"We are stepping into a period of the unknown," he said. I think we are potentially stepping closer to another big conversation, the one that goes beyond the Good Friday Agreement.

If you look at the polls - and it is an if - and they suggest Sinn Fein could emerge as the biggest party.

"And if they do - and of course it is an if - and if they are in a position to nominate as first minister, will unionism nominate a deputy first minister?

"And if they don't I think that is the moment really Stormont is half a step from its end game."

> Health Minister Swann hopes to remove most Covid-19 restrictions in Northern Ireland this week