Speaking to LBC's Iain Dale, Belfast Telegraph journalist Ms Morris suggested the result is highly likely given the voting intentions of Northern Ireland and the state of the Unionist vote which is split "three ways". She explained how the Unionist vote will be "scattered to the wind" at the upcoming election and a Sinn Féin win could be a major "psychological" blow to Unionist voters who are marking 100-years of Northern Ireland statehood this year.

       Allison Morris said: “What’s interesting is the Unionist vote is now split three ways almost quite evenly.

       “Whereas the republican vote, the Sinn Féin vote, has stayed steady at 25 percent.”

       But the journalist went on to suggest that as a result of the voting intentions of Northern by the next elections which are due to be held in May 2022, Northern Ireland will “almost certainly” have a Sinn Féin First Minister.

       She went on to say how the timing of this is poignant given the history of Northern Ireland.

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       Ms Morris explained: “For Unionists, we are currently in the Centenary of Northern Ireland, it is 100-years since the formation of the state.

       “This was meant to be a Unionist state with a Unionist majority.”

       But she added: “In that 100-years it looks like the next election will be the time when the Unionist vote is scattered to the wind.”

       She also stressed how the nationalist vote is “holding steady” in terms of the SDLP and Sinn Féin.

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       As a result she claimed Stormont is now “looking at a Sinn Féin First Minister”.

       She added the position of the Deputy First Minister will then be one of the Unionist parties of Northern Ireland which would be a representative from either the Democratic Unionist Party or the Ulster Unionist Party.

       But a Sinn Fénn First Minister is likely to be hard for Unionists to get their head around.

       She explained that ”psychologically" this outcome would be "quite a thing for a lot of Unionists and Loyalists to get to grips with.”

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       Sinn Féin is a republican nationalist party that seeks to end the political partition of the island of Ireland.

       The party, whose name in Irish stands for “We Ourselves” or “Ourselves Alone”, was founded in 1905.

       The Stormont elections will be held on May 5 2022.

       Currently standing for election are the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson, Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill and the SDLP's Colum Eastwood.