Michelle O’Neill says DUP acting as ‘cheerleaders’ for war amid rising oil costs

The DUP are “championing and being cheerleaders” for the war in Iran, the First Minister has said.

Michelle O’Neill said the spike in oil prices is the “real-life implication” of the war in the Middle East, but insisted Sinn Fein and the DUP can work “together whilst having a very different approach to what’s happening internationally”.

Hundreds of people from Northern Ireland have been trapped in the region since last Saturday amid the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel which caused widespread airspace closures in the Middle East, sparking major disruption to flights.

The First Minister was criticised by opposition parties for not attending Cabinet Office briefings on the situation in Iran alongside her deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, while both faced criticism for not issuing a joint statement.

Ms O’Neill said they had both been getting briefings twice a day.

“My view in terms of the security briefings, ‘so called’, is that I’m not going to be implicit in London’s role in this war. That’s the distinct difference,” she said.

“I can have that view and hold that view, but there’s nothing that I haven’t been informed of in terms of getting people home.”

She told the Press Association that her party and the DUP are “polar opposites” when it comes to international law.

“I’m a supporter of international law. I believe in diplomacy and in peace,” she said.

“What we’ve seen this week are a DUP that are championing this war, and there are real-life implications for that.

“We saw what happened in Iran. I agree, Iran had a regressive regime, a brutal regime, that can be true whilst also not wanting to see – you can’t change a regime by coming in from the skies and attacking and creating a war.”

She added: “So we won’t have an agreed position with the DUP who are championing and being cheerleaders for what’s happening, whilst my view is very, very different.

“My outlook on all of this is always going to be diplomacy and peace and the rule of law in terms of the international standards that are expected of all people.

“But unfortunately, they’ve been on the wrong side of the war against the people in Gaza, and they’re on the wrong side of this argument.”

However, Ms O’Neill said the parties could work together on the “issue of humanitarian aid and getting people home”.

“I’ve spent my week speaking to many families that are concerned about loved ones that are stranded as a direct result of the conflict breaking out,” she said.

“Some people have been, I’m glad to say, on the first flight coming home last night and hopefully another one today, so one to Dublin last night, hopefully one into London today.

“We’re briefed as an Executive Office, so myself and Emma Little-Pengelly, twice a day in terms of those ongoing developments, we’ve ongoing discussions and engagement with both the British and Irish governments, so we can do all of those things together whilst having a very different approach to what’s happening internationally.”

Following US and Israeli missile strikes on Iran, retaliatory attacks from Iran damaged oil and gas infrastructure across key Gulf states.

The sudden volatility in global oil trade caused home heating oil prices to spike by as much as £100 in the past week alone, which is particularly acute in Northern Ireland, where 62.5% of homes rely on it, compared to the UK average of just over 5%.

Ms O’Neill said people are “really feeling this at a local level”.

“This is a choice to start a war, and the choice that’s been made by the US and by Israel has now meant that there are real-life implications for the people here,” she said.

“And certainly, even I know people in my own family are talking about the price of oil, the price of petrol going up, how are they going to be able to afford these things.

“People are rushing to buy things, to buy oil they can’t afford. That’s the real-life implication of a war.”

The First Minister added that oil companies “that are profiting off the backs of ordinary people here should stop” but said it is “not as straightforward as bringing in regulations”.

“I think it’s a more complicated picture, not least because we’re trying to get more people to move away from fossil fuel and away from oil, but I think that where we can regulate, we should be regulating,” she said.