Northern Ireland will be voting along with the rest of the United Kingdom today in the European parliamentary elections, marking a stark contrast to the situation back home.

Key points: Civil servants have been running public services since a coalition collapsed

Civil servants have been running public services since a coalition collapsed The collapse has re-ignited historical debates about Northern Ireland's identity

The collapse has re-ignited historical debates about Northern Ireland's identity A journalist's recent murder has renewed efforts to restore government

Northern Ireland's Parliament — or Stormont — has been in crisis for more than two years after a power-sharing government made up of Protestant and Catholic coalition parties collapsed in 2017.

The crisis was triggered after the former deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness of the nationalist Sinn Fein party, resigned in January 2017 over a controversial renewable energy scheme brought about by his colleague, former first minister Arlene Foster of the loyalist DUP party.

McGuinness died in March of that year and a replacement has never been agreed upon since.

Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace agreement was designed to end decades of violence between nationalist and loyalist groups, who were also largely comprised of Catholic and Protestants respectively.

Under the agreement, members on either side of the divide have to share power in government — this meant Ms Foster also lost her post when McGuinness resigned, and the coalition broke down.

Former first minister for Northern Ireland Arlene Foster. ( AP: Michael Cooper )

In order to keep the nation ticking along as negotiations took place, civil servants were granted powers in 2018 to manage Northern Ireland's public services, with funding secured and signed off by Westminster.

While political tiffs over energy policy might be familiar to Australian eyes, the government collapse in Northern Ireland has reignited tensions between the two sides.

The political vacuum it left, combined with the prolonged tensions of Brexit, continues to fuel debate over the nature of the nation's identity.

But despite continued talks, as well as calls from the public for the government to reform and resolve any lingering differences, no agreement has been forged in over two years — leaving Northern Ireland without a ruling government.

'A bizarre situation'

Northern Ireland expert at Belgium's University of Leuven, Dr Jamie Pow, told the ABC the political quagmire presented a "bizarre" democratic situation.

For example, he said, federal budgets, now administered by civil servants, had essentially become "copy-paste jobs" that were cloned year-to-year as civil servants lacked executive authority to draft new ones.

Such budgets only served to create an environment that exacerbated many of the nation's endemic and divisive issues, he said.

Debates over Northern Ireland's abortion laws have been paused during the deadlock. ( Wikimedia Commons: Ardfern )

"We know that the health system needs radical reforms — and there have been some reforms in social care that have been ready to go — but nobody's been able to sign them off for two years," Dr Pow said.

Meanwhile, victims of historical institutional abuse have not been able to apply for compensation, despite a public inquiry recommending the move.

"There is no obvious cliff-edge moment," one anonymous official recently told the BBC.

"Instead, we are seeing a slow decay across our public services and economy."

Last week, the UK's public broadcaster revealed a letter to Northern Ireland's civil service from 540 school principals explaining they were "on their knees" as a result of the crisis.

The situation has even led some to consider a return to Westminster's direct rule — this is anticipated to occur if the parties cannot reach common ground and re-enter a power-sharing agreement.

"People have an appetite to get on with it, and both parties know they have to [agree to disagree to an extent]," Dr Pow said.

"But it's all about the presentation of it [as a win] to their voters."

One of the main sticking points has been a proposal by Sinn Fein to introduce the Irish Language Act.

This would place the Irish language on an equal footing with English in courts and government and establish bilingual signage on roads and public buildings.

Sinn Fein maintains the act is designed to prevent funding being cut to Irish language services, but the DUP has staunchly rejected it as an erosion of British identity.

A short, bloody history of Northern Ireland

British forces were deployed across Northern Ireland during the Troubles. ( Burns Library, Boston College: Bobbie Hanvey )

To understand how and why Stormont finds itself in deadlock, it is important to recall some of the history of sectarian violence that looms over Northern Ireland's political system.

The nation's bloody sectarian war, known as the Troubles, brought paramilitaries on either side of the divide to blows in the late 20th century.

These included the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Defence Force (UDA).

Between 1969 and 2010, more than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, including 1,879 civilians.

Irish politics expert Adrian Little from Melbourne University said the conflict's unresolved and lingering tensions were key contributors to Stormont's current political impasse.

"There [are still] a lot of unresolved crimes and murders from the Troubles on both sides of the sectarian divide," he said.

"Most peace agreements around the world tend to have some kind of reconciliation process, but [the Good Friday Agreement] didn't have that."

Professor Little said another element of the power-sharing agreement was its failure to promote political moderation, despite that being its primary intention.

"[The political process] became much more of a sectarian headcount with people increasingly voting at the extremes on either side," Professor Little said.

The divisive history has also reached breaking point over the last two years, prolonging reconciliation and often keeping situations tense.

In April this year, 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee who often wrote about the Troubles was reportedly shot and killed by a member of the self-described New Irish Republican Army — formed in 1997 by dissident IRA members — during a standoff with police during a riot.

Mourners embrace at the funeral of Lyra McKee in Belfast. ( Reuters: Brian Lawless, pool )

Dr Pow said the incident served as a reminder of how some paramilitaries "never got behind" the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

After Ms McKee's funeral, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar released a joint statement calling for fresh power-sharing talks.

Presently, it is unclear if Northern Ireland's political leaders will be able to make any headway.

But as Father Martin Magill noted in a eulogy for the slain journalist, Stormont's politicians will be under close watch as the death of Ms McKee has sparked a renewed resolve to restart the political process.

"To the many politicians present in this cathedral today, let me say again those words which one of Lyra's friends had said: 'The younger generation need jobs, they need a better health service and education. They need a life, not a gun put in their hands'," he said.