‘I will be a first minister for all’: Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill marks historic moment for once unionist state

Countdown for republicans to potential Irish unification ticks louder as new first minister pledges to serve everyone equally' at Stormont

The chamber's ornate ceiling remained blue, red and gold, and Portland stone still held up the Stormont edifice, but the beaming Sinn Fein faces declared this was a historic moment for Irish nationalism.

Michelle O'Neill became Northern Ireland's first nationalist first minister in a day of symbolism and pomp that restored devolved government and etched an epitaph on the tomb of what was once a unionist state.