The Archbishop of Armagh has called on politicians in Northern Ireland to reject sectarianism and return to the negotiating table, saying the collapse of Government so soon after the last election is “a serious matter for all of us and cannot be taken lightly”.
Martin, who is the Primate of all Ireland, released a statement following news that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is dissolving the Northern Ireland Assembly and calling elections on the 2 March, after Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigned last week. The Sinn Féin politician stepped down in protest over the Democratic Unionist Party’s handling of a renewable energy scheme that had an estimated half-a-billion pounds overspend.
The scheme, set up in 2012 by First Minister Arlene Foster, when she was enterprise minister, was intended to increase individual household’s consumption of fuel from green sources of energy, but went over budget when interest spiked after officials announced the subsidy was going to be cut.
Under Northern Ireland’s power-sharing agreement, Mrs Foster automatically loses her First Minister role with the departure of McGuinness.
In an open letter to politicians, Archbishop Eamon Martin said the impasse between the two parties risked the public’s “further disillusionment with the political process”.
The call to public service requires sacrifice and “offering compromise and building bridges to overcome barriers as they arise”, he said. “Help to bring us further along the road to lasting peace, a shared future and prosperity for all. Do not resort to predictable, wearisome slogans or denigrating, divisive language.”
Martin assured the members of parliament of his prayers and offered the support of the Church.
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