On 1-2 March, ALDE Party member Alliance Party held a Spring Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Last month, the party returned to the Northern Ireland Executive with two Ministers as a new power-sharing coalition government took office, two years after the last Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

The party has consistently established itself as the third strongest in Northern Ireland’s elections and it now holds 17 seats in the newly-reformed Stormont Assembly.

Naomi Long MLA, Alliance Party leader and Northern Ireland’s Minister of Justice, outlined the party’s reform proposals around forming an Executive which is effective and functional.

“I am pleased that the Assembly is up and running again, I am always conscious of the threat of another collapse. Alliance has been the only consistent and unequivocal champion of reform of the institutions,” said Long.

“Our job is to work to make the institutions as stable and functional as they can be from within, whilst continuing to make the case for reform to those who have the power to deliver it.”

Micheál Martin TD, Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) of Ireland and leader of ALDE Party member Fianna Fáil, addressed the Conference on 1 March on the need to reform institutions to prevent another government collapse.

 “As the Alliance vote shows, there is an undeniable increasing proportion of society here seeking a political home that is not primarily defined by the constitutional question. The voice of your voters, their vision, and their identity, is just as fundamental to the future of this place as anyone else's,” said Martin.

“That vision has to encompass the reality of today’s Northern Ireland. Every person has to count just as much as anyone else. It makes sense for us to look now at what we can do to make the institutions more stable and effective while retaining the foundational commitment to meaningful power-sharing and inclusiveness.”

https://twitter.com/MichealMartinTD/status/176366238150108824

Photo: Alliance Party