Carla Lockhart said on Saturday outside Drumcree Church that the DUP has it "within its gift to remove" Michelle O'Neill as Northern Ireland's first minister after the Drumcree dispute escalated. Her remarks came a day after the secretary of state banned the Portadown District Lodge from marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Lockhart said her constituents are angry at the chief constable, the secretary of state and O'Neill. She added that "Very clearly it cannot be business as usual at Stormont."
Drumcree Church and Garvaghy Road
The dispute sits inside power-sharing at Stormont, where the DUP shares power with Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland Executive. That is the setting for Lockhart's warning: if the party decides to act, the pressure would fall on O'Neill's position as first minister rather than on the dispute alone.
Lockhart also said, "They're angry at the chief constable for allowing lawlessness to win, for allowing the mob to dictate," and, "They're angry at the secretary of state for his intervention, but the most palpable anger is at Michelle O'Neill, this self-proclaimed 'first minister for all' for breaking the law flagrantly on the Garvaghy Road, and thumbing her nose at unionism and at the Orange Order and at this community." She added: "You can not continue to engage with someone who is so blatant in her disregard and disdain for a large section of this community,"
PSNI letters to Sinn Féin
Michelle O'Neill is one of a number of Sinn Féin politicians who have received letters from the Police Service of Northern Ireland over protests connected to the Drumcree parading dispute. Police had repeatedly warned people taking part in the unnotified protest that they could be liable for arrest.
O'Neill defended her involvement by saying she was standing with the local community in opposition to an Orange Order parade through the area. She previously dismissed a DUP call for her to resign over her role in the protests, and told the assembly she was "proud" to stand with the residents and "will continue to stand with them".
The next question is whether the DUP turns Lockhart's language into a formal move against O'Neill. For now, her warning leaves Stormont with a live dispute over how far the party is willing to push its power-sharing arrangement while the Drumcree parading dispute remains active.
