Michelle O'Neill becomes Northern Ireland's 1st nationalist first minister

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill made history on Saturday after she was appointed as Northern Ireland's first nationalist first minister.

Politicians gathered in Stormont, Northern Ireland's parliament, to appoint a series of ministers to the devolved executive, as a deal was reached for power-sharing after almost two years of political deadlock.

Michelle O'Neill has been appointed Northern Ireland's first minister, while the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) Emma Little-Pengelly will serve as deputy first minister.

This came after the DUP ended its boycott of Stormont after agreeing a new deal with the British government on post-Brexit trade rules.

In her first address as the first minister in parliament, O'Neill said that today “opens the door” to a shared future.

"This is an assembly for all Catholic, Protestant and dissenter, despite our different outlooks and our different views and the future constitutional position," she said.

O'Neill said that they must make power-sharing work because collectively, they are charged with leading and delivering for "all our people, for every community."

"As an Irish republican I pledge co-operation and genuine honest effort with those colleagues who are British, of a unionist tradition and who cherish the union," she added.

O'Neill noted that it is the first time that a nationalist has taken the post of first minister in Northern Ireland, saying: "Such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents and grandparents' generation."

"This place we call home, this place we love. North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, where you can be British, Irish, both or none is a changing portrait," she added.