‘Ball is in the DUP’s court,’ says Mary Lou McDonald as hopes of Stormont breakthrough grow

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has said she hopes the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) “makes the right decision” and confirms a return to Stormont at its party conference this weekend.

As speculation mounts that DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is preparing the ground for the restoration of the powersharing institutions, Ms McDonald said the “ball is in the DUP’s court”.

There has been no functioning Government in Northern Ireland for more than 18 months due to the DUP’s boycott of Stormont over its opposition to post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday following a meeting with business leaders at Belfast City Hall, along with Sinn Féin first minister designate Michelle O’Neill and party MLA Conor Murphy, Ms McDonald expressed optimism about the deadlock being broken.

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“But equally, we’re aware that this state of inertia can’t go on forever,” she added.

In August, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke of the need for an alternative or “plan B” if the political stalemate continues and an opportunity is missed to restore the North’s devolved institutions by the autumn.

But Ms McDonald on Thursday said her party was committed to “plan A”, with “an exclusive executive, a functioning Assembly, the North-South infrastructure ... that’s the best outcome for everyone”.

“The DUP has a big decision to make and we can only hope and expect that they will make the right decision; that’s plan A,” she said. “We hope and expect we will see further moves and ideally confirmation of that at the DUP conference itself or shortly thereafter.

“If it doesn’t happen, we will deal with that. But let’s have the conference happen and let the DUP arrive at the only logical and fair conclusion, which has to be about going back into Government and reforming the Executive.”

[ DUP executive to meet amid speculation of Stormont return ]

Earlier, Mr Donaldson said he would like to see a successful resolution to his party’s negotiations with the British Government over the post-Brexit trade impasse within weeks.

In an interview with the Press Association, he insisted there had been “absolutely no dissent” within his party over the tactic of trying to secure concessions from UK politicians over the operation of the Windsor Framework.

Asked when the negotiations might conclude, he said: “A lot depends on the progress which is made to close the gaps that are there at the moment, but certainly we would like to see an outcome within the next few weeks.

“We have identified what the outstanding issues are, we are clear about what is required to both protect in law and respect our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom.

“That goes to our rights under article 6 of the Acts of Union, our economic rights as part of the UK, and this is what needs to be resolved, so we believe that can be done relatively quickly provided there is the will on the part of the Government to bring forward the legislation that is needed and to introduce the additional measures required to safeguard our ability to trade with the rest of the UK.”