The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest pro-UK party in Northern Ireland, came second to Sinn Féin in the region's May 2022 elections, with MP Emma Little Pengelly appointed as Deputy First Minister. The two positions have equal legal status, as neither can function without the other.
Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Fein, was among those in the public gallery for the ceremony and was joined by Fiachra McGuinness, the son of the late former Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who served alongside staunch unionist Ian Paisley after the Good Friday Agreement. Which ended three decades of conflict known as the Troubles.
Both women have family links to the area's turbulent past, with O'Neill's father having been an IRA prisoner during the conflict that involved Republican paramilitaries fighting to reunite Ireland, Loyalist paramilitaries fighting for survival in the United Kingdom, and British security forces .
Little Bingley's father was convicted in Paris in 1991 for his role in an arms smuggling plot, but denied being an arms buyer.
Despite Sinn Féin's victory in the 2022 election, a series of opinion polls have since found that the people of Northern Ireland would still vote decisively against a united Ireland if there was a referendum, with an Irish Times poll last year showing almost double that number. . Voters who expressed their preference want to remain in the United Kingdom.
The Good Friday Agreement stipulates that the British government must call a referendum if it “appears likely” that a majority wants a united Ireland. A simultaneous survey must also be conducted in the Republic of Ireland.
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