Journalist’s Death Jolts Northern Ireland Politicians Back to Negotiating Table

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland — The main political parties in Northern Ireland have agreed to restart negotiations to revive the province’s dormant regional parliament, a week after the murder of a journalist by nationalist militants exacerbated concerns that the political vacuum had contributed to a breakdown in the Northern Irish peace process.

Officials announced on Friday that negotiations will begin on May 7. Representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party, which wants Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and Sinn Fein, which hopes the province will ultimately join the Republic of Ireland, will attempt to end an impasse that has left the region without a government for more than two years.

Since a 1998 peace deal that largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict between nationalist and unionist paramilitaries and the British state, Northern Ireland has been mostly ruled by a coalition of the region’s largest nationalist party and its largest unionist counterpart, which are currently Sinn Fein and the D.U.P.

But that power-sharing agreement collapsed in January 2017, following allegations of unionist corruption and subsequent disagreements over same-sex marriage and the legal status of the Irish language.

This in turn led to a period of prolonged political stasis, which analysts feared might lead to a loss of public faith in conventional politics, and revive sympathy for nationalist and unionist paramilitaries.

This tension has been heightened by uncertainty over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit, which could lead to the reintroduction of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (The two were partitioned in 1921, when the south won semi-independence from Britain following several centuries of colonial rule.)

Yet neither political faction appeared ready to compromise until last week’s killing of Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old reporter, during a confrontation between the police and nationalist militants in Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s second-largest city.

That tragedy seemed to jolt the region from its stasis, prompting nationalist and unionist leaders to issue joint statements of condemnation, and make joint public appearances.

The leaders of Sinn Fein and the D.U.P. sat alongside each other at Ms. McKee’s funeral on Wednesday, during which their failure to compromise was condemned by one of the eulogists, the Rev. Martin Magill.

“I dare to hope,” Father Magill said, “that Lyra’s murder on Holy Thursday evening can be a doorway to a new beginning.”

Two days later, his request appears to have achieved tentative results.

The Republic of Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, and Britain’s secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, announced that they had convened talks for May.

“Lyra symbolized the new Northern Ireland and her tragic death cannot be in vain,” Ms. Bradley said in an online statement. “All of us must take inspiration from what Lyra achieved in her life, and work even harder to make Northern Ireland a brighter, more peaceful and prosperous place for everyone.”

But the reaction from both the D.U.P. and Sinn Fein suggested that renewed talks may not lead to a breakthrough.

Arlene Foster, the D.U.P. leader, spoke warmly of Ms. McKee in an interview with R.T.E., an Irish broadcaster, but warned that her party would not be swayed by sentiment.

“You shouldn’t conflate sympathy and empathy with a political issue,” Ms. Foster said. “We have a longstanding policy, which hasn’t changed.”

Cillian McGrattan, a politics professor at Ulster University, said an agreement was still possible, but said negotiations “could just be some kind of choreography that is there as some kind of diversion.”

Mr. McGrattan added: “The politicians are so far apart that I can’t imagine how you can fudge some of these issues in order to move forward.”

Ms. McKee’s killer remains at large.

A dissident group known in the news media as the New Irish Republican Army has claimed responsibility for her death, in an apology that said their intention was to target the police.

A video that circulated on social media appears to show the moment when a masked gunman fired the bullet that killed Ms. McKee. But the gunman has yet to be identified, and three people arrested in connection to Ms. McKee’s death have been released.

On Friday, the police released footage of three masked men filmed at the scene and appealed again for residents to come forward with information.