SINN FEIN challenged the Democratic Unionist Party on Wednesday to end their “blockade” of Stormont.

The Northrn Ireland Assembly has been in shutdown for more than a year after the victory of Sinn Fein in the Stormont elections in May 2022.

This means that Sinn Fein is currently entitled to nominate the next first minister, and the DUP to nominate the next deputy first minister.

But the Assembly has remained effectively collapsed while the DUP has refused to participate.

Appearing at the Westminster Parliament’s Northern Ireland affairs committee on Wednesday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party had submitted a document to the British government which was understood to outline what it needed to re-enter Stormont.

Sir Jeffrey told MPs: “We have put that paper to the government. We want to give the government time to respond to that and I think it’s important we respect the integrity of that process.”

Sir Jeffrey said that his party was looking for “protection for the ability of Northern Ireland’s businesses to trade with the rest of the UK in the event that there’s future divergence between UK law and EU law.”

But Sinn Fein member of the assembly Conor Murphy has called on the DUP to “end its blockade of the political institutions.”

“The time for excuses and delay is long past. What the public need to hear now from Jeffrey Donaldson and the DUP is that they are ending their blockade and going back to work,” he said.

“The onus is on Jeffrey Donaldson to act in the public interest and stop putting his party before the people who want and deserve government and the proper delivery of public services.

“Sinn Fein stands ready to form an executive today, and to work together with all the parties to support public services and deliver for the people we collectively represent.”