THE Drumcree dispute “brings into question how this whole peace process works”, Michelle O’Neill said on Sunday, while standing on the Garvaghy Road.

Her remark made headlines that implied a threat to Stormont, yet her intention was the opposite.

The first minister was responding to calls from the crowd to collapse devolution and explaining why Sinn Féin would not do so. Mary Lou McDonald nodded alongside as she spoke.

With every set-back, let alone crisis, Sinn Féin now has to contend with grassroots calls to walk out of Stormont.

Sarah Creighton: Drumcree is a f*** you to nationalism. Is this really what victory looks like for unionism?

Brian Feeney: The problem at Drumcree is the Orange Order, and has been for 200 years

While much of this is pure exasperation, it is increasingly mixed in with a belief that the alternative to devolution is a significant role for Dublin that would better serve republican goals.

Sinn Féin does not believe this, or it would not be clinging to office.

It did not believe it in 2017, when it walked out reluctantly due to severe grassroots exasperation with the DUP.

But it then made a rod for its own back by trying to justify its departure.

Asked to explain why it had not merely handed power to London, Sinn Féin dug out a 2006 statement from the British and Irish governments, warning the DUP that if it did not sign the St Andrews Agreement there would be........

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