History is being made today as Michelle O'Neill takes charge of representative political life in Northern Ireland as its First Minister. The Sinn Féin deputy leader becomes the first nationalist/republican to hold the position. Legislators returned to Stormont after a two year hiatus and duly elected the 47-year-old O'Neill to the top job. "It represents truly historic change in the North and across the island of Ireland," O'Neill said in a statement to the Washington Post. U.S. Congress members who take an active interest in Irish issues have, over recent days, been welcoming the Stormont return and its acknowledgment of the new balance of power in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive.
