Unionists went on to express their loyalty to the new King, while nationalists did not. There was a subtle distinction in the messages. For two and a half hours - an extension to the scheduled time allowed by outgoing Speaker Alex Maskey, who presided perhaps for the last time - MLA after MLA got up to laud the late monarch. That spirit of politics being set aside during the period of national mourning continued into the tributes. However, rather than rival parties using that to pressurise the DUP, the other parties agreed to do what was done in the wake of Lord Trimble’s death - let the Assembly chamber be used for tributes in a way which looked and sounded like a sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly, but technically was simply a meeting of MLAs in the Assembly chamber. With devolution not functioning and the DUP refusing to allow an Assembly Speaker to be appointed, by law the Assembly cannot sit because the first item of business must be the election of a Speaker.
The first sign that MLAs would rise above habitual feuding came when the sitting was confirmed last Friday.
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill signs the Book of Condolence in the Great Hall
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