Who is there to encourage Stormont's restoration?
Nobody in politics, in truth.
Obviously a huge majority of the citizens of NI want it back and the stalemate broken, as demonstrated by the standing ovation given to the priest at Lyra McKee's funeral. I suspect NI nationalist opinion would really like to see the DUP back down over the Irish Language Act and would support SF over this all the same. GE results last time around gave SF hope that their support is pretty solid. Maybe feelings will be better known after the upcoming local elections in NI on 2 May?
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections-2019/
A selection of articles that neatly illustrate the way politics works in NI. DUP playing the Orange/Then and Us card, flirting with criminals, ignoring needs such as health care reform. The upcoming elections will be a test of how much this old refrain resonates.
Domestically: The government and opposition do not see it as a necessity. Is it because there were so many problems with corruption (cash/ ash) that it is seen as a double edged sword anyway?Even people like the SNP don't mention having it back do they? Domestically is it seen as a hot potato? ( Sorry to mix swords and potatoes.)
The entire Brexit debate has taken place in an English cultural and political context. The idea that any devolved assembly in the UK would have any input is contradicted by events since the Referendum. Scotland is being dragged against its will out of the EU too.
The government and opposition are completely oblivious to NI.
It is not a hot potato. It is completely invisible and ignored. Nobody knows or cares about corruption or any of the other issues besetting the province. Hence the insistence that NI goes with the UK wherever Brexit takes it. Karen Bradley is a good example of the complete ignorance about NI that prevails. newsgrowl.com/karen-bradley-ignorance-northern-ireland/ Obviously she was appointed by someone who didn't bother looking into her general knowledge either.
Internationally: Are there any countries (US? Canada?) that have said hang on shouldn't decisions about the border on the island of Ireland take place in conjunction with an NI assembly?
Trump wants the UK out of the EU, US vulture capitalists and hedge funds financed both Trump and the Brexit campaign, and US vulture capitalists want to push on from there and demolish the EU.
The US capitalist class is Enemy Number 1 of the EU. Demolition and destruction are the necessary precursors to profit for them so a resumption of war in NI and terror in Britain is a prospect they can face with equanimity.
The Irish American lobby would like peace in NI and supports the GFA. They would also support SF on issues like the Irish Language Act. But their fallback position is that they favour a reunited Ireland, preferably achieved without bloodshed, which they believe would lead to peace all across the island, albeit maybe not immediately.
Arlene Foster's recent comment that if Ireland were ever reunited she would leave would give them much hope that peace might come sooner rather than later. (Feel sorry for Glasgow though - I imagine this is where she would go).
Ultimately the Irish American lobby wants a poll on reunification. Economic chaos and a return to direct policing from Westminster (troops, special services, internment, suspension of habeas corpus, lots of publicity for NI) might work against the prospect of forcing a poll or they might have the opposite effect. The Irish American lobby are also sensitive to Ireland's economic needs in the context of Brexit and a renewal of fighting in NI, and thus the current support for the backstop and the GFA in general.
The Irish American lobby has always been more openly friendly to Sinn Fein than Dublin has, however, and more openly supportive of a 32 county Ireland.