Northern Ireland assembly reopens three years after collapse
Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill stress need for unity as they take up senior roles
The Northern Ireland assembly has reopened for business three years almost to the day after it and the power-sharing executive in the region collapsed.
At an unprecedented Saturday sitting of the regional parliament, assembly members elected Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey as the chamber’s speaker, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader, Arlene Foster, as first minister and Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, as deputy first minister.