text: Designate (2022–2024) Following the 2022 Assembly election, Sinn Féin won the largest number of seats with 27 seats, becoming the largest political party in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Their unionist counterparts, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) came second with 25 seats. As a result of being the largest party, this put O'Neill in line to become the First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the DUP leader to become the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. However, O'Neill did not take up the position until February 2024 because, as part of its opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the DUP refused to nominate a deputy First minister and there was therefore no functioning executive of Northern Ireland.
  In August 2022, O'Neill was asked in a BBC interview whether it was right during The Troubles for the Provisional IRA "to engage in violent resistance to British rule". O'Neill was criticised for her response, including by then DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, when she said: "I think at the time there was no alternative, but now thankfully we have an alternative to conflict, and that is the Good Friday Agreement – that is why it's so precious to us all." She added in February 2024, "I think the alternative was the Good Friday Agreement, it was peace, and I'm so glad that we arrived at that position".
  In September 2022, O'Neill broke with Republican tradition to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.