First Minister of Northern Ireland, MLA for Mid Ulster & vice president of Sinn Féin
The Executive has agreed to allocate an additional £122 million to the Department of Health and £43.7 million to the Department of Education as part of the June monitoring round, but the SDLP have criticised the timing of the annoucement with the general election on Thursday.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew has failed to get elected in the European Parliament elections in the Midlands-North-West constituency. The party has since chosen Pat Cullen to stand in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the general election.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill has announced that the Minister for the Economy Conor Murphy will stand down from his role in the Executive on medical grounds, with Deirdre Hargey to take over on an interim basis.
Simon Harris has become the youngest ever Taoiseach at just 37 years old. His appointment comes after Leo Varadkar’s shock announcement last month that he would step down from the position after being re-appointed to the role in December 2022.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said that is is “business as usual as far as the Executive is concerned” following the changes in the DUP’s ranks; Emma Little-Pengelly said that “people demand stability and delivery and that is what I will be focusing on”.
The North-South Ministerial Council is due to meet on Monday 8 April in what will be Leo Varadkar’s last official engagement as Taoiseach; The last meeting of the joint council was in July 2021.
The East-West Council was formed in the agreement that brought the DUP back to power-sharing and aims to improve business and educational links across the United Kingdom.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has announced his intention to step down in an unexpected announcement, with a replacement to be elected by Fine Gael before 6 April.
The MP for Mid Ulster, who was first elected in 2013, has announced that he will not stand for re-election in the General Election this year.
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