LONDON (AP) — Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill is poised to make history Saturday by becoming the first Irish nationalist leader of Northern Ireland as the government returned to work after a two-year boycott by unionists. Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the U.K. in 1921, following independence for the Republic of Ireland. The return to government came exactly two years after a DUP boycott over a dispute about trade restrictions for goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people were left without a functioning administration as the cost of living soared and public services were strained. The new changes included legislation “affirming Northern Ireland’s constitutional status” as part of the U.K. and gives local politicians “democratic oversight” of any future EU laws that might apply to Northern Ireland.

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Persons: Sinn, Michelle O'Neill, O'Neill, Brexit, ” O’Neill, Sinn Fein Organizations: Irish, Republic of Ireland, Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, Northern Ireland Assembly, Stormont Assembly, Irish Republican Army, Windsor Locations: Northern Ireland, Northern, Ireland, Republic of, Government, Stormont, Great Britain . Northern, Belfast