Is the slow Stormont ship being blown off course?

Much like Ever Given's journey up the Suez Canal, it hasn't been plain sailing at Stormont recently

A slow-moving beast, liable to be blown off course, weighed down with lots of important cargo which needs to be delivered.

Trailing in its wake a growing line of frustrated onlookers wondering why the blockage can't be cleared.

It has been another bruising week at Stormont.

Like the MC Ever Given cargo ship stranded in the Suez Canal, the Stormont executive is a tricky vessel to navigate and can easily get in the way.

This week the political bottleneck was starting to build and strains on the bridge are starting to show.

From heated exchanges over flags, renewed tensions around an Irish language act, jibes about the Royal Family, a minister being labelled a "little Irelander" and a three-day gagging order for Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister, it felt like a retreat to the trenches.

'Source' of discontent?

It all started with a claim the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was prepared to abandon the Stormont ship if the Northern Ireland Protocol remained in place.

That claim from the chair of the Loyalist Communities Council left the DUP "bemused" and insisting David Campbell got it wrong.

But he stood by what he said.

Before we could digest his claim a "senior" DUP source was on The Nolan Show hotline warning that the Irish language act would be "off the table" if the protocol continued.

The long-running saga about an Irish language act took another turn this week

That too left the DUP bemused and insisting the source within its ranks also got it wrong.

A statement quickly followed stressing the party was still committed to the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) deal but didn't mention the Irish language act which was central to that agreement.

Roll forward 24 hours another DUP politician Ian Paisley reached for the Irish language act to threaten the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis over his plan to bypass Stormont and commission abortion services.

When asked if Mr Paisley was speaking for the DUP leadership, Arlene Foster sidestepped the question and instead turned her anger on Mr Lewis, telling him to "back off" when it comes to devolved matters.

Prism of the protocol

But is there a danger some at Stormont are preparing to back off when it comes to the deal which restored devolution?

What is clear is that the DUP is now viewing all outstanding political pledges through the prism of the protocol.

Its commitment this week to the NDNA deal came with strings attached.

Arlene Foster has told Brandon Lewis to leave devolved matters to Stormont politicians

The party said each of the strands of the devolution settlement were "interdependent" and could only function when the others were working properly.

It pointed to the barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and what it said was the blatant disrespect of unionist identity.

And concluded by linking the party's commitment to NDNA to all issues being "resolved" to secure political stability.

Then we had the weekly intervention from former first minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson, warning in the News Letter that unionist "estrangement from the political arrangements will for some morph into rejection of the political process".

Cooling-off period on the cards?

Sinn Féin has already insisted there will be no renegotiation of the NDNA deal, but some at Stormont feel the executive is in danger of running aground.

The fragile unity in dealing with the pandemic and plotting a course out of lockdown is keeping ministers focussed.

The spring flowers are emerging at Stormont but will MLAs be there to see the same happen next year?

But that united front is being tested in public with every joint news conference with the first and deputy first ministers.

For now there is no sign of an imminent Stormont showdown but that doesn't mean the institutions will survive until the current mandate runs out next May.

Already the Northern Ireland Office is being asked about the promised NDNA laws to safeguard against a sudden Stormont shutdown.

A plan agreed by the parties allows for a longer cooling-off period which means the resignation of the first or deputy first ministers would not trigger a total collapse of the institutions for at least six months and possibly longer.

Any move by the Northern Ireland secretary to fast-track that legislation through Westminster this year would be ominous.

But history tells us if the devolved government is blown off course before its best before date then it will take more than a man with a digger to re-float it.