The Northern Ireland Assembly has rejected motions of no confidence in First Minister Michelle O'Neill and three other Sinn Fein ministers. The motions, which required cross-community support to pass, failed after Alliance Party MLAs abstained and People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll voted against. Unionist MLAs, including independent Claire Sugden, voted in favour.

The motions accused the ministers of breaching their pledge of office in connection with the Garvaghy Road standoff. During the debate, Michelle O'Neill said it was not surprising that unionist parties supported the motion, claiming they had never accepted an Irish republican, and a woman, as First Minister.

Baroness Arlene Foster, a former DUP leader and Northern Ireland's first female First Minister, rejected O'Neill's comments. She said the first female First Minister was a unionist and that O'Neill currently serves in a joint office with a capable female Deputy First Minister. Baroness Foster also described accusations of racism levelled at TUV leader Jim Allister as "bonkers".

During the debate, DUP MLA Diane Forsythe said the idea that unionists had a problem with O'Neill being First Minister because she is a woman was "completely pathetic". She noted that O'Neill is not the first woman to hold the role and described the deputy First Minister as "a better woman than she is".

Alliance deputy leader Eoin Tennyson said the events of recent weeks were serious and that any elected representative found to have acted unlawfully should face consequences. However, he said the motion was a political stunt designed to destabilise the institutions and that Alliance wanted no part in that agenda.