Priest who officiated at journalist’s funeral says mourners highlighted appetite for leaders to enter talks

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Mourners who “put pressure on” Northern Irish party leaders to join the standing ovation at the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee symbolised an appetite for politicians to work together again, the priest who officiated at her funeral has said.

Mckee, 29, was shot by dissident republicans during clashes with police in Derry on 18 April.

Fr Martin Magill challenged Sinn Féin and Democratic Unionist party leaders during his speech at McKee’s funeral to a standing ovation.

Speaking to The Andrew Marr Show he said the standing ovation was symbolic of a broader appetite for change. “The people, in a sense, really put the pressure on in the cathedral to stand,” he said.

“Obviously the politicians realised: ‘oh goodness, everybody behind us is standing, we need to move,’ and they literally moved because people had moved.

Play Video 1:32 Lyra McKee: priest receives standing ovation after calling out politicians – video

“To some extent, it’s almost a metaphor – I get the sense that people want our politicians to move, and they want them to move now. By that, I mean in terms of entering into those talks and in a way that will bring a positive result at the end of them.”

During his speech at McKee’s funeral, Magill chastised the party leaders – who have been feuding for more than two years – for not coming together before her death, asking: “Why in God’s name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get to this point?”

Northern Ireland has not had a functioning government at Stormont since January 2017, because of ongoing disagreements between Sinn Féin and the DUP.

The British and Irish governments announced on Friday that an agreement had been reached to establish a new round of talks involving all the main political parties in Northern Ireland, starting on 7 May.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lyra McKee. Photograph: Jess Lowe/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking on the Today programme on Saturday, the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, referred to the standing ovation as “a moment of great clarity”.

She added: “What we’re doing at the moment is not having a government and that is hurting ordinary people, in terms of hospitals, education, infrastructure and jobs creation.”

Foster suggested “parallel talks” should begin between the two parties, which would involve handling immediate issues such as running the health service, while disagreements between the two parties are addressed separately.

Deal reached for Northern Ireland power-sharing talks Read more

Pressed by presenter John Humphrys on why the two parties would not just sit together again, Foster said: “Of course we can sit together but I want the government up and running again tomorrow.”

Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, rejected this approach on Thursday, saying: “In terms of what Arlene Foster has proposed today, in terms of going into the executive and having a parallel process, that will not work.”

Foster also resisted mounting pressure to legalise same-sex marriage in the wake of McKee’s death, an issue that the journalist cared strongly about.