Unionist MLA joins call to oust Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as First Minister

South Down MLA Diane Forsythe publicly supported Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart’s appeal for the Democratic Unionist Party to remove deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly, a step that would automatically displace Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister under the power-sharing arrangement. Both unionists cite O’Neill’s involvement in an allegedly illegal protest on Garvaghy Road in Portadown, where she attempted to block a contentious Orange Order parade.

The protest, deemed unlawful for lacking Parades Commission notification, led to police interviews of several Sinn Féin leaders, including O’Neill and party president Mary Lou McDonald. Unionist leaders claim the incident has generated widespread anger and that the executive should not operate with O’Neill in office, while Sinn Féin’s infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins warned that O’Neill is “going nowhere.” The dispute threatens the stability of the Stormont Executive, though other ministers could remain and the Assembly could sit for up to six months.