Michelle O'Neill urges Edwin Poots to attend north-south meeting

Michelle O'Neill said north-south meetings were an integral part of the political institutions

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has called on the DUP leader Edwin Poots to attend a North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meeting later this month.

The DUP is currently boycotting certain meetings as part of their opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ms O'Neill has criticised the DUP boycott and said it cannot "be allowed to continue".

She is set to take part in a virtual party leaders forum on Thursday.

Mr Poots is due to host the forum.

The forum of party leaders comes amid concern about potential instability within the Northern Ireland Executive due to the impending change of first minister.

The protocol is the part of the Brexit deal that places a border in the Irish Sea.

Ms O'Neill said north-south meetings were an integral part of the political institutions.

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She said they needed to be "functioning properly with ministers from all parties attending".

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday night, her Sinn Féin colleague and Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said she had sought legal advice about a potential judicial review over the DUP's boycott of the meetings.

She said she had made the move after the DUP failed to turn up to a meeting on languages on Wednesday.

Ms Hargey also said the meetings were an integral part of the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, alongside the executive and the assembly, and "need to be functioning properly with ministers from all parties attending".

Last week, SDLP assembly member and Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said she had sought legal advice over the DUP's absence at north-south meetings.

Ms Mallon told the Northern Ireland Assembly that ministers are legally obliged to attend.

Speaking on BBC NI's Nolan Live on Wednesday night, North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said the "big issue" for the DUP on the agenda was the protocol.

"We need to see something radical which does away with all the aspects of the protocol that have been so harmful," he added.