Well, it seems that it has finally happened. After weeks and months of speculation, the proverbial has well and truly hit the fan and the Stormont institutions are falling apart.

The Deputy First Minister has resigned and, by default, has taken the First Minister out of post as well. I’m sure we all remember the “are they in or are they out” hokey cokey of the DUP ministers in 2015 after two men with links to the IRA were murdered, leading Peter Robinson to believe that there was significant IRA activity that posed a real threat. He had asked for a suspension to be enacted and powers temporally handed over to Westminster, but things were eventually resolved.

Stormont was able to continue as it did because the ministers did not exceed seven days before reappointing themselves, even if they did just turn around and resign again. However, things are different this time around as Sinn Féin say that they have no intention of nominating a replacement for Martin McGuinness.

While many spoke of the possibility of an early election being called, I don’t think too many actually thought it would come about in reality. We didn’t have an election over the NAMA portfolio, the Charter NI issues, the ‘On the Run’ letters or any of the other big scandals from the past few years. This was, after all, supposed to be a year off for the electorate as it was one of those rare occasions when there were no elections scheduled to happen. It’s estimated that this seemingly inevitable election is likely to happen in March, a decade to the month after the first elections to the devolved power-sharing Stormont we’ve come to appreciate.

It’s bordering on comical to realise that our political system is crashing down around us not because of a major security risk and not because of some kind of constitutional crisis, but because of a renewable heat scheme. I say it’s comical, but it’s more in a “if you don’t laugh you’ll cry” sort of way rather than a “oh this is hilarious” kind of thing. However, I’m pretty sure the rest of the UK and those further afield are looking at us in dumb amazement.

On a serious note though, I do worry about what lies in store. Nothing has been sorted in the now infamous RHI scandal and having an election isn’t going to solve anything. If things continue as they seem to do, RHI won’t be back on the agenda papers until sometime in April and it’s unlikely that there’ll be any new solutions presented as all involved will now be focusing on getting their election game up and running. We’ve constantly been hearing about this half a billion pounds that RHI is going to cost the taxpayer over the next 20 years, and yet here we are having to spend even more money on an election that is wholly unnecessary. Even with the number of seats available reduced to 90, we’re still likely to see much of the same old thing with most of the same faces.

Then again, it could take some time for some sense of normality to return. It was clear in both Martin McGuinness’s resignation speech and the follow up interviews with Sinn Féin MLAs that there are serious issues that need to be addressed. I can’t help but feel that the events of Monday are about more than just the RHI issue: that was just the final straw and the one that unfortunately broke the camel’s back.

There’s an obvious deep rift between the DUP and Sinn Féin and it’s more than just because they’re political opponents who are polar opposites in most ways. There seemed to be a genuine anger bubbling under the surface and if the two parties can ever manage to get together in a room somewhere to discuss the problems that they have then I’d advise someone to consider hiring a couple of bouncers and enforcing break times because it’s not going to be a quiet and calm conversation. The Haas talks seem to have been for naught and the long ranging goals of the Fresh Start Agreement that promised a reality of Northern Ireland where politics works left as but a distant memory.

There’s another major political event happening in March if anyone can recall: Theresa May plans to officially trigger Article 50 and formalise the Brexit negotiation process. Scotland seem well prepared for it but Northern Ireland appears to be lacking anything that even resembles a plan. With no MLAs to work on one, I think we may be in more than one version of trouble in the coming months.

It’s not like there aren’t already other things that need dealt with as soon as possible. The NHS across the country is at crisis point and locally we’re seeing GP surgeries closing because there simply aren’t doctors there to take them over. The £8 million underfunding on services for adults with learning disabilities seems to have dropped off the political radar and no solutions posed. The whole realm of education is struggling with possible strikes in the near future. The Finance Minister didn’t get a budget out before this resignation so absolutely everything seems to be up the left.

Maybe Sinn Féin thought that having the deputy First Minister resign was the only thing that they had power to do, but surely they were aware of what the consequences were going to be. I’d like to say that having an election will just be placing a dried-up sticking plaster over the wound, but it won’t even be as effective as that. It’s going to solve nothing.
But now is not the time. Now we need intensive inquiries to be held and solutions to be suggested. We need the MLAs to sit in the chamber as a group and discuss everything like the dignified adults that they are supposed to be, rather than making snide comments, working on their soundbites and walking out of the chamber to make some kind of point. The public need answers and they need some reassurance that our government actually works.

I write this on Monday night in the wake of a day that managed to give me a headache more severe than trying to understand what the Ancient Greek philosophers were saying ever did. They say a week is a long time in politics, but with new information emerging daily on the RHI scandal, I’m starting to think that a day is longer than we all care to realise.