as the sun rose over the city of Belfast this morning some spoke of a new dawn the stage was being set for storman return cameras assembled to capture the landmark moment political paralysis finally ended and it was a historic moment for shin fain's Michelle oo cheered into the chamber by supporters the first nationalist or republican to ever be appointed first minister of Northern Ireland today opens the door to a future assured future I am honored to stand here as first Minister we Mark a moment of equality and a moment of progress a new opportunity to
work and to grow together this day she said would have been unimaginable to her grandparents made possible by The Good Friday agreement Michelle O'Neal's father was an IRA prisoner and she has attended memorials for former members but she has pledged to show respect to the royal family and cooperate with colleagues who cherish the union this is an assembly for all Catholic Protestant and denter I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict without exception the past cannot be changed or cannot be undone but what we can do what we all can do is
build a better future I will never ask anyone to move on but I really do hope that we can all move forward the dup who collapsed Stormont exactly 2 years ago in protests over brexit trade rules today nominated a deputy first Minister Emma little Pen's family also has links to the troubles her father was convicted for his role in a loyalist Plot In Her speech she spoke of remembering the devastation from an IRA bomb Michelle oil and I come from very different backgrounds but regardless of that for my part I will work tirelessly to ensure
that we can deliver for all in Northern Ireland Michelle is an Irish Republican and I am a very proud unionist We will never agree on those issues but what we can agree on is that cancer doesn't discriminate and our hospitals need fixed the post of Deputy first Minister has equal power but less symbolic weight some unionists have found Michelle O'Neal's appointment hard to Bear we have a shin f first Minister but not in my name nor in the name of thousands of unionists who will never buy the knee to IR shenan it's been a very
long road to reach this point the 2-year Hiatus stormant has piled pressure on public services across Northern irland few see its return as a Panacea but many hope it will be a platform to start fixing things Katherine Samson there will earlier I put a couple of questions to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton Harris with the difficulties within and without the Democratic unionist party how confident are you that they will stay in this process very extremely can I just ask you how significant is it from your perspective that we see the first
nationalist first Minister here um so I'm a Democrat I'm a conservative and unionist politician who's been working his hardest to get a nationalist first minister put uh go find find her seat find her voice in this place um because I am a Democrat more than I am anything else now Shin Fain have the are the largest party they have the right uh to be first Minister dup second largest party they've got the deputy first minister they are of equal standing in this place and that is important to remember to um but I I'm confident having
seen what I seen behind the scenes and having seen the two speeches from Michelle and em just now um that yeah we're going to have sustainable government here in Northern Ireland for a very long time and it's going to benefit all uh communities and just a few moments ago I caught up with the new first Minister Shin fain's Michelle O'Neal just ask you about the significance of today well it's obviously a hugely significant day um very historic day uh this place was designed in such a way that someone from my background would never come into
the position of first minister so this is a day that's unmanageable for my parents and grandparents and and and just in terms of keeping it on track keeping it from collapsing how confident are you that you can do that well it's day one let's hope we get day two dead three and day 100 I'm here to do business I think we all turned up today to do business we need to make par sh and work it is the only show in town and the public deserve no less
