Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster pictured before going into the chamber where she took over as Northern Ireland’s First Minister on Monday, after Peter Robinson confirmed his resignation.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA has already served twice as acting First Minister, standing in for Peter Robinson
Newly elected First Minister Arlene Foster says she is greatly humbled to take over the North’s top job.
The 45-year-old said on Monday that she took great pride in being appointed to the top job in the Stormont power-sharing Executive.
Her elevation was confirmed during the first Assembly sitting of the new year and comes a month after she replaced Peter Robinson as leader of the Democratic Unionists.
The married mother-of-three, who defected from the Ulster Unionists to the DUP in 2004, is also the youngest incumbent of the post of First Minister.
She told a packed Assembly Chamber on Monday of her honour and pride in taking up her new role: “It was with great humility, an enormous sense of responsibility and the imagination of endless potential for Northern Ireland that I affirmed the pledge of office and take up this post.
“I can think of no greater honour than to have the opportunity to serve my country and the people of Northern Ireland as their First Minister.
“I am truly humbled by the trust and confidence which has been placed in me and grateful for all those who have kept me in their prayers in recent days.
“As a young girl growing up in rural Fermanagh, the most westerly constituency in the whole of the United Kingdom, in the days when we were plagued by terrorism and decisions affecting our fates and our futures were taken far away, I could not have dreamt that I would be in this position.
“For my part I want to make sure what is possible for me is possible for any young boy or girl growing up in Northern Ireland.”
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