22 September 2025

Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole MLA has accused the First Minister of being evasive on whether she wants to equalise First Ministers job titles, despite that being her party’s own previous position.

When pressed today in the Assembly on retention of the differential in titles between the otherwise equal roles of First and deputy First Minister, the First Minister refused to offer an opinion, instead pushing responsibility to a Stormont committee.

Mr O’Toole said the First Minister’s obfuscation was a departure from her predecessor Martin McGuinness’s advocacy for equalising the titles, and the fact that Michelle O’Neill herself referred to the roles as “joint First Ministers” when she served alongside Arlene Foster.

Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole MLA said:

“At a time when Stormont is so self-evidently failing, people in the north want an absolute focus on delivery - not top-dog politics or tribal one-upmanship. That is why it is so dispiriting to see the First Minister refuse to say whether she stands by her party’s previous position of equalising the First Minister job titles.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. Serious reform of how Stormont works can begin with removing the absurd differential which exists between the two titles. The First Minister having won a historic election in 2022, and taken on her role more than 18 months ago, has the power to show leadership and move on from the kind of top-dog tribal politics that the DUP wants to engage in. If she does not, the public will only conclude that she and her party see an upside in indulging in exactly that kind of empty tribal one-upmanship

“Michelle O’Neill’s refusal to even answer a straight question today did not indicate any desire to show leadership on the issue.”