No matter how much Mr Ian Paisley and his DUP dissemblers might cavil, there is only one happy conclusion to draw from the referendum on the Good Friday agreement. The people of Northern Ireland have overwhelmingly put their faith in the proposed assembly and fervently trust that it will guarantee
long-term peace and stability. The turn-out was hugely impressive, as was the proportion endorsing the agreement. Women turned out in droves, as did young people, who often do not bother to vote. Virtually the entire nationalist community voted in the affirmative, as did the majority of unionists. The politicians who worked long and hard to reach agreement on power-sharing and then sold it to their people, frequently with great bravery, deserve credit and our congratulations.
People in Northern Ireland were describing Saturday as the best day of their lives. With so much effervescent talk about the war being over and the curtain coming down on the bloody past it is little wonder that Northern Ireland Minister Paul Murphy detects a virtual revolution in the way politics is ordered. Yes, most people in both communities backed for the first time fundamental change in the way they run their affairs. Their will is settled. But the referendum vote is the beginning, not the end, of the process. Northern Ireland's political leaders have an awesome responsibility to deliver on the promise of peace. There will be setbacks, some legitimate and democratic, others illegal and violent. But they must not be allowed to divert the Assembly from delivering on that promise.
Mr Paisley and his lot have another chance to act responsibly by accepting the democratic will of the majority by fielding candidates in next month's elections who will work for, rather than against, the Assembly. Paradoxically, he sees the absolute imperative of genuine power-sharing and maintaining a political balance within the Assembly offering the opportunity to wreck the body, since the critical policy decisions which will, after all, define the Assembly will require substantial support in both nationalist and unionist voting blocs. The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, has emerged in recent months as a politician of genuine stature. It is as well that his hand has been strengthened by the referendum vote for there are still many decent, law-abiding unionists who voted no because of the release of terrorist prisoners and their utter mistrust of Sinn Fein's leadership.
Their fears were callously exploited by the DUP, which distorted the facts to suit its ends. But it is to be hoped that they can be per-
suaded that the Assembly is the only way forward, if only further to marginalise legitimate loyalist zealotry. Mr Blair pledges legislation to ensure that only prisoners who will not re-offend are released (and the vast majority of those freed to date have not returned to crime). Similarly, politicians who are linked with paramilitaries will be banned by law from taking a seat in the Assembly. But this issue will pose a serious threat to the politics of consent as long as Sinn Fein dissembles on its links with the IRA. If Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness are truly genuine about peace and justice they will have to deliver on decommissioning within the agreed deadline.
Even in these heady days it is too much to expect them to be candid about their influence over the IRA. Northern Ireland politics is taking on a momentum of its own. But as long as Sinn Fein indulges in double-speak it could be halted, perhaps by Mr Adams seeking a legal challenge over the issue of links with the IRA, as he did when his party was thrown out of the pre-agreement negotiations. Stasis must not be permitted. Avoiding it is in Sinn Fein's hands. Mr Adams has done much nodding in the direction of Sinn Fein and IRA members with his oft-repeated remarks about his goal being a united Ireland. This causes the unionist community great concern, for obvious reasons, but if the Irish Republic referendum shows anything, it is that it is not a goal in the south.
It is not even a contested matter, as the low turn-out illustrates. Only those who agreed that the republic should give up its constitutional claim on the north bothered to vote and they did so overwhelmingly. No, it is not an issue and unionists should recognise as much. There is speculation that the impressive Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, is to be rewarded for her sterling contribution with a Cabinet promotion. We can see no other reason for what would be a foolish action, and even it is fatuous. Against the most terrible odds she has stuck to the task of finding peace. Her undoubted skills will be needed just as much, if not more, in the difficult days ahead. Typically, she wants to stay.
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