The leader of the SDLP believes that the suspension of the Petition of Concern mechanism holds the key to restoring government here.
Colum Eastwood said yesterday that suspending it until the end of the current Assembly period, and calling in experts to reevaluate it, would “threaten no one”.
He added: “We want to form a government, we want to get in there and do the work.”
The Petition of Concern was designed to ensure that changes to legislation need cross-community support to pass.
It has been used to block issues such as same-sex marriage in the past.
Mr Eastwood told Belfast Live: “The two parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein , are the parties with the red lines. None of the rest of us put red lines down, we all want to be in government, we want to get back to work. But it’s very clear that there are contentious issues and we believe we can find a mechanism for dealing with them.
Stormont talks must begin in wake of Lyra McKee shooting, says SDLP leader
“There are majorities within the assembly, we’ve already tested that, we know it to be true, to get things like marriage equality through.
“I proposed the last motion on marriage equality and that one had a majority. That majority exists and it’s the same for other pieces of legislation.
“We need to unblock the veto. The veto is the Petition of Concern. We’re proposing that we suspend it for the lifetime of this Assembly, to a proper review where experts are brought in to look at how we can properly use the Petition of Concern so that it’s there to protect people rather than protect politicians and abuse the political process.
“So we want that to be done. We want to form a government, we want to get in there and do the work. The political vacuum that exists now is very, very dangerous.
Lyra McKee funeral hears impassioned plea to politicians of Northern Ireland
“If Lyra McKee’s awful, tragic murder teaches us anything it means politicians have to get on with their job. We have a responsibility, police have a responsibility, the community has a responsibility.
“Our responsibility is to come together, to work together, to do our jobs. We can no longer sit on the sidelines and just keep repeating the same old mantras and keep trotting out the same old positions.”
The Derry MLA said that the public is “sick” of the stalemate and said that it has “totally and utterly failed”.
He said: “I’m not interested in making Arlene Foster vote for marriage equality, but I don’t want her to be able to have a veto on it and this is the way to do it.
“We shouldn’t try to make politicians do things that they’re never going to do. Because remember this, we’ve been out of government for well over two years. We don’t have marriage equality, we don’t have an Irish Language Act. The stalemate isn’t working, that strategy has totally and utterly failed.
“What we have to do is remove the blockage and get people back to work. It sounds simple but we need people to come to that position.
“We could have an assembly up and running very, very quickly. There’s nothing to stop an assembly being up and running if the petition of concern is no longer an issue. The rights issue that people say they want to deliver can be delivered by an Assembly, that’s what an Assembly’s job is. That’s the solution, it has been the solution for a long time.
“But I hope now that because of recent events that minds can be focused and people can understand the importance of this.”
Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play
