For two years Northern Ireland has been without devolved government following the Democratic Unionist Party’s boycott of the Executive in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

On Saturday 3 February 2024 the Northern Ireland Assembly met and elected as First Minister Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, the first nationalist member of the assembly to hold that position.

In a recent article for Pearls and Irritations I examine unionist objections to the Northern Ireland Protocol and the reasons for the DUP’s boycott of devolved government. I also examine what it was that led the party to return to Stormont despite the risk of a split in the party and the leaking of votes to its hardline unionist rival.