Upper Bann MP Ms Lockhart quit the DUP on Monday over its handling of the fallout from the Drumcree parading dispute.
asserted
Lockhart → quit → dispute
She will now sit as an independent unionist in the House of Commons.
asserted
She → sit → Commons
Ms Lockhart believes Ms O’Neill can no longer serve as one of Stormont’s co-leaders due to her participation in an allegedly unlawful protest against an Orange Order Drumcree parade in Portadown in September.
uncertain
O’Neill → believe → September
Ms O’Neill and several of her party colleagues are being investigated by police for taking part in the protest on the Garvaghy Road that was staged to prevent the parade proceeding through the predominantly nationalist area.
asserted
parade → investigate → area
The party figures have attended a police station in Belfast for voluntary interviews.
asserted
figures → attend → interviews
The MP had called on her party to withdraw DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from her office – a move that would automatically force Ms O’Neill from her role.
asserted
that → call → role
Mr Robinson stopped short of pulling out Ms Little-Pengelly but on Thursday last week announced she would no longer participate in joint engagements with Ms O’Neill.
asserted
she → stop → O’Neill
Ms Little-Pengelly will also not be giving permission for Ms O’Neill to fulfil engagements on her own in the role of First Minister.
asserted
O’Neill → give → Minister
On Tuesday, Mr Robinson was asked whether the episode had left him vulnerable and potentially exposed to a future leadership challenge.
asserted
episode → ask → challenge
“My party are fully behind the position that we have,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.
asserted
he → have → Ulster
“The sad thing about all of this is that you know some within the media, some outside detractors and destructors within unionism, have decided to shift the focus onto the DUP when the focus should be on Sinn Féin, and the focus should be on Michelle O’Neill.”
asserted
focus → know → O’Neill
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On Ms Lockhart’s resignation, he added: “I’m very sorry to see her go.
asserted
her → read → resignation
I said two weeks ago that I’m not going to be criticising Carla Lockhart.
asserted
I → say → Lockhart
She is somebody that I’ve known for over 20 years and have worked together in the past, and will continue to work together.
asserted
I → know → past
I appointed Carla as a party officer.
asserted
I → appoint → officer
I brought her into the party leadership team.
asserted
I → bring → team
I value the contributions that she makes and the views that she has.
asserted
she → value → that
On Monday, First Minister Ms O’Neill insisted she would “not be deterred” from doing her job by the DUP move to block her from taking part in public engagements.
asserted
she → insist → engagements
Addressing the Stormont Assembly, the Sinn Féin vice president claimed the DUP was motivated by a “supremacist” approach to nationalists.
asserted
DUP → address → nationalists
The DUP move prevented Ms O’Neill from attending an economic meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh governments in Glasgow last Friday.
asserted
move → prevent → Glasgow
The First Minister has also been blocked from attending, in an official capacity, the ceremony for Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in Belfast at the weekend.
asserted
Minister → block → weekend
On Tuesday, Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Mason told the Assembly that the DUP strategy did not make sense.
asserted
strategy → tell → sense
“I have to say I am genuinely puzzled by what we are witnessing from the DUP at the minute, and I think a lot of people right across our communities are asking the exact same question – ‘what on earth is going on?’,” she said.
asserted
she → have → earth
“The DUP tells us time and time again that they want to make this place work.
asserted
place → tell → ?
They want to deliver for people.
asserted
They → want → people
They want to grow our economy, attract investment and build a better future.
asserted
They → want → future
Yet what they seem to be doing is the very opposite.
asserted
seem → seem → what
When we are pressing for proper funding from a British Prime Minister for our public services, the DUP blocked a meeting between the First Minister and the British Prime Minister, and in doing so, block themselves (deputy First Minister) also.”
asserted
DUP → press → themselves
She added: “Can somebody, anybody, please explain to me how the DUP actions make any sense?
asserted
actions → add → sense
How does preventing the First Minister from representing this place, engaging with the British Prime Minister, and promoting economic opportunities benefit a single person living here?
asserted
preventing → prevent → person
How does that create one job, attract one investment, or help one struggling family?
asserted
that → create → family
It doesn’t.
asserted
It → do → ?
I genuinely, genuinely cannot get my head around it.
asserted
I → get → it
It’s incomprehensible.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s illogical and irrational.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s just bizarre.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
“It’s obvious, very, very obvious, that the internal dysfunction within the DUP is now spilling over into the business of government.
asserted
dysfunction → ’ → government
A decision by the Parades Commission adjudication body to allow the Orange Order to parade down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years prompted a two-week stand-off at the site of what was a notorious parading flashpoint during the Troubles.
asserted
what → allow → Troubles
The parade was ultimately unable to take place because of significant numbers of protesters on the Garvaghy Road, leading Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant to overturn the commission’s decision and ban the procession.
asserted
parade → take → procession
His decision was upheld by a High Court judge last week.
asserted
decision → uphold → judge
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
