- Feb 5, 2002
- 166,616
- 56,250
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
DUBLIN (OSV News) — Ireland’s most-senior churchman hailed an agreement that sees a Catholic take the top political job in Northern Ireland for the first time in its history as an “opportunity for a fresh start and a new beginning.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, president of the Irish bishops’ conference, made the comments as a power-sharing government was restored Feb. 3, after two years of deadlock. The executive branch is a key plank of a 1998 peace agreement that ended 30 years of bloody sectarian violence, but has struggled to take root with sporadic boycotts from political parties.
Michelle O’Neill of the Sinn Féin party is the first Catholic to head the region’s government. Addressing the region’s legislative assembly upon her election Feb. 3, O’Neill, 47, said, “The days of second-class citizenship are long gone, and today confirms that they will never come back.”
It comes 103 years after Northern Ireland was formed from the six northeastern counties on the island of Ireland, remaining part of Britain when the 26 southern counties won independence from British rule.
Continued below.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, president of the Irish bishops’ conference, made the comments as a power-sharing government was restored Feb. 3, after two years of deadlock. The executive branch is a key plank of a 1998 peace agreement that ended 30 years of bloody sectarian violence, but has struggled to take root with sporadic boycotts from political parties.
Michelle O’Neill of the Sinn Féin party is the first Catholic to head the region’s government. Addressing the region’s legislative assembly upon her election Feb. 3, O’Neill, 47, said, “The days of second-class citizenship are long gone, and today confirms that they will never come back.”
It comes 103 years after Northern Ireland was formed from the six northeastern counties on the island of Ireland, remaining part of Britain when the 26 southern counties won independence from British rule.
Continued below.
Northern Ireland has a Catholic prime minister for the first time in history
Ireland's most-senior churchman hailed an agreement that sees a Catholic take the top political job in Northern Ireland for the first time in its history as an "opportunity for a fresh start and a new beginning."
www.oursundayvisitor.com
