Since the breakdown of power-sharing and devolution in early 2017, Northern Ireland has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Whether it’s the breakdown of governance brought about by the renewable energy scheme scandal, Brexit and the implications of the NI Protocol, issues concerning legacy since ‘The Troubles’ or the changing of the guard in both Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin leadership, Northern Irish politics has been through a tumultuous period in just five years never mind its long and complex history.

The growing success of nationalist party politics over subsequent years in both Scotland and the Republic of Ireland now looks to be heading toward Northern Ireland’s seat of power. The forthcoming Assembly Elections, set to take place in early May 2022, is being presented as the first time in Northern Ireland’s 101-year history that the electorate will return a nationalist party as the country’s largest political party with a Sinn Féin First Minister potentially nominated. 

To ask how we got here, what this means for the future prospect of Irish reunification, and the implications for the sacred bond of union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, H+K London's Austyn Close is joined by David Blevins (Senior Ireland Correspondent for Sky)  and Adam Payne (Political Editor for PoliticsHome).