A number of church leaders have called on political leaders in Northern Ireland to restore the government in order to prevent sweeping new abortion legislation from taking effect later this month.
Though Northern Ireland is officially part of the United Kingdom, it is governed by a devolved and democratically-elected assembly which was set up in accordance with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement – a peace deal that brought the brutal, 30-year-long civil conflict known as “The Troubles” to an end.
However, the two leading parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, brought the assembly to a grinding halt in 2017 after accusations of scandal and disagreements over a proposed Irish Language Act which would ensure the Gaelic language’s equality with English in Northern Irish civil society.
The protestant-majority DUP supports a continued union with the United Kingdom and values British culture as predominant – the party is also fiercely pro-life. Conversely, the Catholic-majority Sinn Fein party, which has historic links with the IRA paramilitary group, identifies as Irish and wishes to see Northern Ireland adopt more culture from the Republic of Ireland – it is also pro-choice.
Sinn Fein’s long-term goal is to see Northern Ireland unite with the Republic of Ireland – something that is fiercely opposed by the DUP and protestant community as a…
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