The political A to Z of Northern Ireland in 2022

If 2021 was the year of three Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leaders, then 2022 was the year of three Northern Ireland secretaries.

With no assembly in place for much of the year, it was Westminster where the most of the drama unfolded this year.

But local politicians are never ones to be outdone.

Here is my alphabetic rundown of the past 12 months.

As in "no alternative", which is what Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill said in a BBC interview when asked about IRA violence during the Troubles.

"I think at the time there was no alternative," she said.

"Now, thankfully, we have an alternative to conflict and that's the Good Friday Agreement."

Cue outrage across the political spectrum and on both sides of the border.

It was a setback to her efforts to be seen as "a first minister for all" after Sinn Féin won most seats in the May assembly election.

Life is rarely dull around Conservative MP Conor Burns.

One minute he was favourite to become the first Northern Ireland-born secretary of state, the next he was sacked as minister of state for trade policy.

It followed an incident at the party conference in which he was accused of touching a young man's thigh in a hotel bar.

Two months later, he was cleared of any wrongdoing and said he had been "stitched up" and "thrown to the wolves".

It's now official that those from a Catholic background outnumber those from a Protestant one for the first time in Northern Ireland's 101-year history.

Does any of this matter? It might if it brings a border poll closer.

Northern Ireland's politicians are sometimes accused of failing to do their job - though in the past they've never had a problem with holding several multiple at the same time.

The practice of double jobbing - being an MP and MLA (and sometimes a local councillor too) at the same time - ended in 2016.

But a plan to bring it back until the next General Election would have allowed the DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to sit as MP and MLA for Lagan Valley.

Alas for him the plan was hastily withdrawn, so when he won an assembly seat in May he had a decision to make.

He chose to remain at Westminster.

Chris Heaton-Harris is a man of few words. Twitter is a social media platform of few words. Perfect for each other, you might think.

But even he, with the increased fame afforded by his exulted status as secretary of state for Northern Ireland, must have been surprised when Twitter's new billionaire owner Elon Musk replied to a tweet of his.

Heaton-Harris said a fake report that he had resigned was "complete and utter tosh".

Musk replied: "What does a tosh look like?

£400 to each household in the UK to help with energy costs was the government's big idea for dealing with the cost of living crisis.

Handy, unless you live in Northern Ireland.

People in Great Britain began receiving the cash in October but not here.

First, Northern Ireland has a separate energy market. Second, there's no executive, which is the reason given by the government for the delay.

The good news is the pay out has now risen to £600. The bad news is we won't get it until January.

Still Northern Ireland's last first minister, even though Sinn Féin won the right to hold the post in May's Assembly election.

The DUP MLA for Lagan Valley appeared emotional as he announced his resignation in February over his party's opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Not necessarily a quality everyone would have ascribed to Northern Ireland Office minister Steve Baker, best known for being one of the Conservative Party's strongest proponents of Brexit.

But he said a combination of "humility and resolve" lay behind his surprise decision to apologise for some of his behaviour towards Ireland and the EU during the Brexit process.

Several thousand people gathered in Dublin for a conference organised by this group which is campaigning for a united Ireland.

The crowd at the 3Arena heard from politicians, members of civic society and business people, and actor Jimmy Nesbitt who comes from a Protestant/unionist background.

As the deadline passed for restoring the executive, a debate raged about what should replace it.

Helped, say unionists, by the time it took the Northern Ireland Office to issue a statement ruling out Joint Authority with the Republic of Ireland.

Few actually called for it - and no-one seemed sure what it would look like even if the law currently allowed for it, which it doesn't.

But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

A DUP councillor who said Michelle O'Neill would be "put back in her kennel" was suspended for three months.

John Carson made the comments about the deputy leader of Sinn Féin on Facebook.

The local government standards watchdog said the remarks were "unreasonable and misogynistic".

Stormont's default position.

In a year sullied by vile chants and "songs", nothing topped a social media video showing a group of people singing a song mocking the 2011 killing of Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius.

It was recorded in an Orange hall on the day of a big parade marking Northern Ireland's centenary and was widely condemned.

Some of those responsible apologised. Her widower, John McAreavey, tweeted "hate can hurt but never win".

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie had already decided to withdraw from anti-protocol rallies when a poster of him with his head in a noose was left near the platform of one in Lurgan.

His constituency office in Portadown was also attacked.

The poster was turned from view by DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and TUV leader Jim Allister but the damage was done.

We now have an official one made up solely of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) who didn't win enough seats to go back into government.

But, in true Stormont style, they don't have anything by way of an executive to oppose.

Is it OK to use the word "planters" to describe unionists in Northern Ireland? That depends on who is using it.

The term dates back to the plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. It was used by the poet John Hewitt - a Protestant - for a 1970 anthology called The Planter and the Gael.

It was also used more than once by the former DUP leader Peter Robinson.

But when it was used by the senior US Congressman Richie Neal during a visit to Northern Ireland, unionist fury was unleashed.

Mind you it didn't help that he claimed the issues over the Northern Ireland Protocol were "manufactured".

Mr Neal said he had seen worse when he used to visit Northern Ireland 25 years ago.

The UK's longest-reigning monarch is considered by many as a force for reconciliation in Northern Ireland both in life and death.

At the very least her passing was marked with dignity in Northern Ireland on all sides of the divide. No easy feat.

According to the book Lost Lives, the Provisional IRA was responsible for 1,771 murders during the Troubles, or 48.7% of those who died.

Enniskillen; La Mon; Narrow Water; the list of atrocities goes on and on.

But all too often in 2022, almost 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, you'll see someone on social media who wasn't even born when the organisation last planted a bomb or fired a shot singing "oh ahh up the Ra".

From the Republic of Ireland women's football team to kids at a fleadh, a woman asking the former first minister Arlene Foster for a selfie and the Wolfe Tones song Celtic Symphony, which contains the chant, topping the Irish iTunes chart, what does this say about the prospects for a "new Ireland"?

You decide.

DUP assembly member Christopher Stalford already seemed like a political veteran but he was only 39 when he died suddenly in February.

He was also principal deputy speaker in the assembly - a role he relished - and there were moving tributes across the chamber from political friend and foe alike.

There was much mockery of the then foreign secretary's attempt to pronounce taoiseach (Irish prime minister).

But that was nothing compared to Liz Truss's attempt to be prime minister; or to curtsy; or to deliver a mini budget.

So many to choose from. Let's go for the assembly election mark 11.

He may not be remembered for much but Shailesh Vara can always claim to be the shortest serving secretary of state for Northern Ireland. Sixty six days and out.

Still, compared to Liz Truss's tenure in Downing Street, he's an veteran.

Why should all MLAs pay the price for the DUP's refusal to take their seats in the executive or allow the election of an assembly speaker?

Because it may be against the law to single the party out, replied the Northern Ireland secretary.

So all 90 assembly members face pay cuts of 27% from January.

Tweet in haste, repent at leisure, as Doug Beattie might say.

The UUP leader's political career was briefly threatened when a number of historical tweets came to light which Alliance leader Naomi Long said would have made a 1970s comic blush.

They emerged after Mr Beattie apologised for a joke about the former DUP leader Edwin Poots and his wife.

Some of the tweets, which dated from before Mr Beattie became a politician, contained misogyny; others were racist.

In the end, Doug Beattie apologised saying he was "deeply ashamed" and his party stood by him.

But a few months later he told DUP members in the assembly they could whine "like a girl from the sidelines".

Sinn Féin won the most seats in the assembly election but a large area of Northern Ireland's electoral map is now yellow, thanks to Alliance's third place performance.

Seventeen seats - more than double the eight they won in 2017 - mean we can now talk about three main parties.

A row over the neutrality of backgrounds in Zoom calls broke out at a Stormont committee after a Sinn Féin MLA complained that a book about the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) could be seen behind the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister.

Maolíosa McHugh referred to it as "product placement", adding: "Is he marketing the book there or what?"

Mr Allister replied: "Neither Mr McHugh or anyone else will dictate the contents of my study."