Editorial: ​First Minister Michelle O’Neill damaged Executive unity amid violence

The First Minister’s call for the resignation of Gordon Lyons over a social media post in advance of an attack on Larne leisure centre was completely inappropriate and a sign of poor judgment from the Sinn Fein leader.

​Michelle O’Neill has now denied that there is a “crisis” in the Northern Ireland Executive – and claims the whole Executive is united against the disorder.

Yet in the wake of violence in Larne, she jumped on a political bandwagon started by Alliance and the SDLP – along with the almost irrelevant Green Party.

As Northern Ireland was facing a further night of violence Ms O’Neill chose to attack one of her government colleagues – demonstrating anything but a united front in the face of disorder and attacks on police and ethnic minorities.

She alleged Mr Lyons comments strayed “into the territory of inflaming the situation” and said he should go. In contrast, the deputy First Minister rightly called for unity in light of three nights of violence.

The problem for the first minister is that Mr Lyons says his comments were designed to calm the situation in an environment where false information was spreading on social media, and the timeline of events appears to back that up.

The minister made clear that the people who had been housed in the council facility were no longer there – and says police had encouraged politicians to spread that message, fearful of further disorder.

The PSNI have not disputed that claim when asked by the News Letter.

Ms O’Neill has set a precedent – and one she may live to regret as she has undermined political unity at a critical time.

It is hard to argue with Gavin Robinson’s assessment that the Sinn Fein leader is playing silly political game – and is in no position to call for colleagues’ resignations.