Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the deal ‘does provide a basis’ for the DUP’s return. Sinn Féin leader said she’s ’optimistic' the executive will be back by Feb. 8.
The three Irish parties emerging strongest from Friday’s election—Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein—all claim to be the one true church of Irish nationalism. Each claims direct succession from the Dublin rebels who challenged British rule in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams denied new accusations Thursday that he concealed child-abuse crimes within his own secretive movement, this time allegedly committed by a Belfast officer of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.
Negotiations to bolster Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government opened with recriminations and empty seats Thursday as the 7-year-old alliance of British Protestants and Irish Catholics faced its toughest political test.