Plan B: Alliance leader Naomi Long says Irish government role isn't compatible with the Good Friday Agreement - as she urges 'space' for DUP

The Alliance boss has also said the DUP should be given space to come to a decision and has noted the positive messages from the party over progress it says has been made in recent weeks.

Yesterday the party’s deputy leader Stephen Farry said there would be no choice but for Dublin to be involved in a consultative role in the event that the institutions aren’t restored.

Asked by the BBC how much influence Dublin should have in Northern Ireland – Naomi Long said “the reality is that the Good Friday Agreement already circumscribes how much influence Dublin should have. And it should have influence about issues on a North-South basis. It should have influence on issues that are to do with the whole island and it should also work collectively with the government on an East-West basis to ensure that the institutions are reformed”.

She said this was “fairly settled.”

"The problem that we have of course is that we would then be going into unchartered territory because we wouldn’t be in a position where we had Northern Ireland politicians engaging on a North-South basis. It would essentially be the UK government doing that by proxy… I believe and I believe both governments believe, that the best solution to this is to get the Assembly up and running. I haven’t given up on the Assembly being up and running. I’m frustrated and annoyed like everybody else that it isn’t up and running. But I haven’t given up on the possibility that might happen and I don’t think we should”.

"But I also think if we’re going to look at Plan B and we’re talking about a longer range proposal – there are things we could do almost immediately within the GFA structures that would put institutions on a more stable footing and get the opportunity to get restoration underway. I don’t think we should discount those things as either impossible or impractical because they are neither.”

She added: “If you look at direct rule and you look at some form of involvement with the Irish government – neither of those are compatible with the Good Friday Agreement which people here endorsed. And the proposals that we have brought forward for small changes to the structures – that would prevent single parties from blocking restoration. I think we need to have that serious conversation with the government and that’s what we’ll continue to do”.

Naomi Long also told Holly Hamilton on the BBC’s Nolan Show “It’s part of the understanding that’s been in existence since 1985 with the Anglo-Irish Agreement that the Irish government would be involved in decision making here. It’s part of the Good Friday Agreement that they’re involved at least in Strand Three issues. And so that’s a given. And it’s likely that there would be an enhanced role for the Irish government if we end up in a more direct more permanent form of direct rule. But that’s not what Alliance want to happen. We want to see the restoration of devolution. We want to see local politicians actually running Northern Ireland – and we have given options as to how that could happen. We could remove the vetoes that some parties currently have and abuse to collapse the Assembly. I mean this isn’t the first time it’s collapsed. Five out of the last seven years, we haven’t had an Assembly".

Holly Hamilton put it to Mrs Long that her colleague Stephen Farry had gone on Sunday Politics and “quite readily” said that an Irish government role was an option. The East Belfast MLA responded: “To be clear Holly what Stephen was doing was talking about the facts of the matter as things stand. He wasn’t saying what Alliance want to happen. He was saying what will happen inevitably. I mean we heard Robert Buckland – a senior member of the conservative party say that very clearly. We have heard it from others before. So what Stephen is saying is a fact. That is the likely trajectory. What we would like to happen is if we can’t get Stormont back up and running – or even if we can – that we actually review the structure themselves and we do change those vetoes. So that no single party can collapse our institutions again. We can’t have a situtaion where any party in Northern Ireland can hold government to ransom. It wouldn’t happen anywhere else, it shouldn’t happen here. That would be our plan B.”

Mrs Long said: "Chris Heaton-Harris either way will have to bring legislation through Westminster. There is nothing to stop him considering reform of the institutions as part of that work. These are not theoretical questions – these are conversations that we have been having with him. Even if the Executive is restored within the next few weeks – we would like to see reform of the institutions to make sure that it won’t collapse again”.

The Alliance chief also said there were indications last week – given what was said in the Assembly chamber by the DUP – that significant progress had been made. “They have said on numerous occasions that progress has been made. Now so far they’ve said that there’s further discussion or clarification required but they haven’t ruled out coming back. So I think it’s important that we give them the space now to say what they are intending to do”.

When asked by Holly Hamilton how much space, Mrs Long replied: “I don’t think another six months or another year is acceptable. And I think everybody recognises that the clock is ticking. Let’s look at some of the deadlines that we have already passed – the deadline on legislation which causes all sorts of inconvenience. There’s a deadline approaching now where the Secretary of State will have to set the rate and set the budget for Northern Ireland and that’s going to be a significant pain point if we’re not back in. Because he will have to do that on the basis that we don’t have that extra £3.3bn available to us and that is going to have consequences for everybody.”