Northern Ireland has been without a functioning devolved government since the power-sharing agreement between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin collapsed in January 2017. The crisis was triggered by the resignation of then Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness over the DUP's handling of a green energy scheme and other issues.
Since then, several attempts to restore the executive have failed. A snap election in March 2017 saw unionist parties lose their majority for the first time, and McGuinness died shortly after. The government formation deadline was extended multiple times, with then Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire eventually imposing a budget for departments in 2018. Brokenshire resigned for health reasons and was replaced by Karen Bradley.
In 2018, Sinn Féin leadership changed, with Mary Lou McDonald taking over from Gerry Adams. Michelle O'Neill became vice-president. Talks between the parties and the UK and Irish governments have repeatedly broken down. In 2019, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the British-Irish intergovernmental conference to be reconvened, and Bradley announced salary cuts for Stormont assembly members after 19 months without government.
In the latest development, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar have announced a new round of talks involving all Northern Ireland's main political parties, as well as the UK and Irish prime ministers. The talks aim to break the deadlock and restore the power-sharing institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement.
