​'Unionism sees through' Stormont parties' call for powersharing reforms, the deputy first minister has said

Ms Little-Pengelly was speaking alongside first minister Michelle O'Neill, Irish premier Micheal Martin, deputy premier Simon Harris and Irish foreign minister Helen McEntee after a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in Co Armagh.

Also in attendance at the meeting were Stormont ministers John O'Dowd, Paul Givan, Naomi Long, Andrew Muir and junior minister Aisling Reilly.

At their Ard Fheis last month Sinn Fein said they would bring forward proposals to reform the power-sharing institutions at Stormont .

The SDLP and Alliance Party have also proposed changes to the system, including implementing a weighted majority system to determine cross-community support and changing the first and deputy first minister titles to joint first ministers.

Asked why the DUP do not see the need for reform, Ms Little-Pengelly told reporters in Armagh: "I do think it is the case that for all of those years where there was a unionist majority, it was nationalism and republicanism that demanded those controls and safeguards," she said.

"That's what was implemented, and everybody else was told to get on with that, that is the way it was, in terms of inclusion, in terms of the mechanisms.

"And it's notable that now we have this nationalist, republican, Alliance majority, for the want of a better term, there are now demands to get rid of those safeguards, and I think unionism sees through that and I don't think that is something that is acceptable."

The deputy first minister said some parties' frustrations were arising from the fact Stormont "is a coalition government, and no party to a coalition government ever gets exactly what they want".

"It's up to individual ministers to deliver," she said.

"I think increasingly we are seeing ministers and some parties hiding behind this sense of reform to almost excuse their lack of delivery within their own departments.

"I think we've seen progress, for example, on waiting lists, but there is no issue stuck or blocked at the executive around Bengoa health sector reform, around health waiting list reductions, the A5, the economy.

"All of these issues are issues that are sitting within departments. I think there are ways to get on and deliver that.

"I only have to look at my own two DUP ministers to see that they are pushing forward with a very ambitious agenda."

She added: "It's now over to other ministers to do so and stop blaming things that actually don't exist as blocks and I think that those are critical questions to ask of those ministers.

"Why are they not actually delivering like the DUP ministers are delivering?"

Ms O'Neill said she wanted the institutions to work but "politics has to deliver for people and their limitations within the arrangement itself".