Power-sharing at Stormont has been strained further after the Democratic Unionist Party announced that its deputy First Minister will stop taking part in joint engagements with Sinn Féin. DUP leader Gavin Robinson said on Thursday 29 October 2026 that Emma Little-Pengelly will cease participating in joint engagements with First Minister Michelle O'Neill, and will not give permission for O'Neill to fulfil engagements on her own in the role of First Minister.

What triggered the move

The move follows a police investigation of O'Neill and several Sinn Féin colleagues over participation in an allegedly unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, aimed at preventing a contentious Orange Order parade from Drumcree Church proceeding down the predominantly nationalist road. O'Neill attended a police station for interview the previous week and defended her presence as “the right thing to do”.

The DUP has called for O'Neill and other Sinn Féin lawmakers to be prosecuted over blocking the parade, and says joint work will cease until the British government sanctions O'Neill for her role in the protest. Earlier in October, Britain's Northern Ireland minister overturned a local decision to grant a permit for the parade, after protests triggered a two-week standoff between Catholic residents and Protestant marchers.

Stopping short of collapse

Crucially, the DUP stopped short of withdrawing Little-Pengelly from her post, a step that would also force O'Neill out and collapse the Stormont Executive. Robinson would not rule that out ultimately, but said it would be “madness” to collapse the executive mid-budget talks with London while keeping the option on the table.

There is an immediate consequence: O'Neill said the move means she cannot attend a meeting with the British prime minister and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales on Friday 30 October, and Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant expressed frustration that the executive would not be represented at a Glasgow economic-growth meeting. O'Neill called the move a “reactive stunt, driven by the DUP's own internal pressures and electoral problems”. With regional assembly elections due next May, the row looks set to run.

Sources: Reuters and Press Association.