We should praise politicians when they work together, especially in Northern Ireland

This has not been commented on as much as it should have been, and certainly not by London-based journalists, but the partnership between Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill in Northern Ireland is a wonder to behold.

It was pretty extraordinary when Ian Paisley Sr and Martin McGuinness worked together as first minister and deputy in 2007 – one the founder of the Democratic Unionist Party who built his career on saying No; the other a leader of Sinn Fein assumed to have been a member of the IRA’s “army council”.

And the difficulty of the two parties working together was illustrated by the suspension of devolved government for three years between 2017 and January this year.

But now it is back and the two women seem to be working well together. The coronavirus crisis seems to have given them both a chance to show leadership. They gave a joint but socially distanced interview on Sky News last month in which their mutual respect was evident.

Foster paid O’Neill the compliment of quoting her on the subject of how they worked together despite holding such different views and coming from such different traditions: “Michelle has used the phrase ‘to differ well’.” O’Neill did not give an inch, managing to mention Dublin and using the phrase “we are an island”, but talking about their common experience of having mothers in hospital during the crisis.

This is another remarkable turn in Foster’s career, which had seemed over because of her role in the “cash for ash” scandal – a green energy scheme that ended up paying out large sums without checks. With the suspension of the Northern Ireland assembly in January 2017 the DUP seemed to be preparing to oust her in favour of a new leader.

But then came the 2017 general election, which gave her party the balance of power in the House of Commons – a position which she and Nigel Dodds, the party leader in Westminster, played fully to their advantage. That leverage was withdrawn by the election in December, but now she is back in power at Stormont, with Sinn Fein rediscovering its interest in wielding it with her.

With devolved administrations sometimes taking the lead in coronavirus policy, it was Foster who announced on Thursday that Northern Irish schools would be observing one-metre distancing when they return after the summer on 24 August – thus paving the way for this week’s UK government review of the guidance in England.

I think this is the right policy, and I am glad that Foster and O’Neill have, together, taken a decisive step towards making up for lost time in children’s education.

Yours,

John Rentoul

Chief political commentator