N Ireland politics stay stuck as organ-donor law bid fails

Feb 14, 2023, 8:35 AM | Updated: 8:41 am

LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s main British unionist party scuttled an attempt to restore the collapsed Belfast-based Assembly on Tuesday, refusing to budge on a Brexit-related boycott that has kept the legislature on ice for a year.

Politicians remain deadlocked despite signs of progress in talks between the U.K. and the European Union on ending the post-Brexit trade dispute behind Northern Ireland’s political crisis.

Lawmakers were called to the Stormont assembly building in an attempt to pass a new organ-donation law. The bid failed when the Democratic Unionist Party used its veto to block the election of a speaker — a prerequisite for any business to be done.

Under Northern Ireland’s political system, power is shared between Irish nationalists and British unionists, and neither side can govern without the other.

The DUP veto scuttled an attempt to pass “Daithi’s Law,” which would replace an opt-in organ donation system with one that presumes most adults to be potential donors unless they opt out. The bill is named for Daithi MacGabhann, a 6-year-old boy awaiting a heart transplant.

DUP legislator Paul Givan said his party supported the opt-out organ law but would not budge on its boycott. He said the U.K. government in London could step in and pass the necessary regulations while the assembly was suspended.

Daithi’s father, Mairtin MacGabhann, said it was “a very disappointing day.”

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU member nation, Ireland. When the U.K. left the bloc in 2020, the British government and the EU agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks to preserve the open border that is a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process.

Instead, there are checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. Unionist politicians say the new trade border undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. They are refusing to return to government until the trade barriers are removed.

The political impasse has left Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people with no functioning government and facing a new election that almost no one wants. Last week the U.K. government extended the deadline for forming a new government by a year in an attempt to buy breathing time to find a solution.

The U.K. government hopes to resolve the EU trade dispute and break the political impasse before the 25th anniversary in April of Northern Ireland’s 1998 Good Friday peace accord. It is pinning its hopes on striking a deal with the EU that would ease the checks and coax unionists back into the government.

Achieving that long looked unlikely, as Britain threatened to unilaterally rip up parts of the Brexit agreement, and the EU accused the U.K. of failing to honor the legally binding treaty.

But the mood has improved since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took office in late October, and the two sides have held constructive talks. However, any compromise by Sunak will be a hard sell to the DUP and is sure to anger staunch Brexiteers who form a powerful faction inside the governing Conservative Party.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Brexit at https://apnews.com/hub/brexit and of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/british-politics

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

This photo provided by Robert Wilkes, owner of a house boat management company, shows smoke rising ...

Associated Press

Houseboats catch fire while docked at Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell

More than half a dozen house boats momentarily caught fire at a popular boating destination on the Utah-Arizona line on Friday.

23 hours ago

File - Women work in a restaurant kitchen in Chicago, Thursday, March 23, 2023. On Friday, the U.S....

Associated Press

US hiring, unemployment jump in May and what that says about the economy

The nation’s employers stepped up their hiring in May, adding a robust 339,000 jobs, well above expectations.

23 hours ago

(Pixabay Photo)...

Associated Press

Oath Keeper from Arizona sentenced for role in Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol

Edward Vallejo, a U.S. Army veteran from Phoenix, oversaw a “Quick Reaction Force” at a Virginia hotel that was prepared to deploy an arsenal of weapons into Washington if needed, authorities say.

2 days ago

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz listens during a news conference, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washi...

Associated Press

US Border Patrol chief is retiring after seeing through end of Title 42 immigration restrictions

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday that he was retiring, after seeing through a major policy shift that seeks to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions.

3 days ago

FILE - President Joe Biden talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., on the House steps as...

Associated Press

House OKs debt ceiling bill to avoid default, sends Biden-McCarthy deal to Senate

The House approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.

3 days ago

Sean Bickings (Family Photo via city of Tempe)...

Associated Press

Family of man who drowned last year in Tempe Town Lake files wrongful death lawsuit

The family of a man who drowned in Tempe Town Lake a year ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Wednesday, noting that its police department doesn't have a policy requiring officers to go into the water to save someone.

3 days ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Spinal fusion surgery has come a long way, despite misconceptions

As Dr. Justin Field of the Desert Institute for Spine Care explained, “we've come a long way over the last couple of decades.”

(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

Here’s what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Company looking for oldest air conditioner and wants to reward homeowner with new one

Does your air conditioner make weird noises or a burning smell when it starts? If so, you may be due for an AC unit replacement.

N Ireland politics stay stuck as organ-donor law bid fails