1,000 days since the collapse of Stormont
Last updated 13th Oct 2019
Sunday marks 1,000 days since devolution collapse in Northern Ireland.
Mr McGuinness’s decision to step down triggered the destruction of the Assembly. It completely fell apart a few weeks later when Sinn Fein refused to nominate a replacement Deputy First Minister to the Executive.
In the absence of a functioning devolved government, civil servants were given control.
Our Special Correspondent Sasha Wylie reports.
The shock resignation of the late Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness on January 9th 2017 has led to two long years of finger-pointing, missed deadlines and heated walkouts.
We knew the two main parties were at loggerheads about the botched RHI scheme, but no one could have forseen the repercussions of what would happen.
And 1,000 days on, it seems we are no further forward - with the DUP and Sinn Fein still blaming each other for the lack of progress.
Last Feburary it seemed there was a slim chance they had finally come to an argeement. However that bubble was quickly burst by Arlene Foster who denied a deal had been struck and then took to social media to call for direct rule to be implemented.
The dominos have continued to fall since then and the relationship between the two main parties at the moment appears to be as toxic as it was 1,000 days ago.
In the meantime essential services have managed to carry on nearly as normal, but many sectors are struggling to keep afloat without ministers in place make key decisions.
Health is of course one area which has suffered greatly - with growing patient waiting lists and a staffing crisis to name but two of the major issues facing health care workers and the public.
Elsewhere the Education sector has been described as being at a ‘tipping point’, key decisions around infrastructure and policing cannot be made, and there are the outstanding controversial social issues like same sex marriage and abortion.
Additionally, many claim Northern Ireland's voice has been lost in the Brexit negotiations because of a lack of political representation.