Doing The Stormont Shuffle
26/03/07 23:13 Filed in: Politics
Well, it all
went quite well in the end. Ian said some nice
things, Gerry said some nice things in Irish, and
everyone toddles off for six weeks. But this six
weeks thing puzzles me. Why not now? I mean, it's not
like the DUP and Sinn Féin don't know one another's
positions by now, given that they have been dancing
around one another for the last four years or so.
This is a big gamble for both parties. For Paisley, he is doing what he said he would never do - go into government with Sinn Féin. He has clambered onto the high ground of unionism over the last four years, digging his hob-nailed boots into the backs of the Ulster Unionists on the way, by saying he would never countenance power sharing with Sinn Féin. Yet here he was today, sitting alongside Gerry Adams in Stormont. I know that many unionists are resigned to seeing this happen someday, but it will be interesting to see how the grassroots reaction unfolds now that it is - almost - reality.
For Adams, there is the risk that it might all unravel in the six weeks between now and 8 May. Will Paisley or one of his lieutenants try to introduce a new obstacle to the process, in order to raise the bar further for Sinn Féin? I'm sure that there are some in the DUP who would have been confident in the assumption that Sinn Féin would never either decommission their weapons or support the police. But both have happened, and so now the DUP have nothing left with which to stall the momentum. There's many a twist twixt cup and lip and all that…
And if it does get going, how long will it last?
This is a big gamble for both parties. For Paisley, he is doing what he said he would never do - go into government with Sinn Féin. He has clambered onto the high ground of unionism over the last four years, digging his hob-nailed boots into the backs of the Ulster Unionists on the way, by saying he would never countenance power sharing with Sinn Féin. Yet here he was today, sitting alongside Gerry Adams in Stormont. I know that many unionists are resigned to seeing this happen someday, but it will be interesting to see how the grassroots reaction unfolds now that it is - almost - reality.
For Adams, there is the risk that it might all unravel in the six weeks between now and 8 May. Will Paisley or one of his lieutenants try to introduce a new obstacle to the process, in order to raise the bar further for Sinn Féin? I'm sure that there are some in the DUP who would have been confident in the assumption that Sinn Féin would never either decommission their weapons or support the police. But both have happened, and so now the DUP have nothing left with which to stall the momentum. There's many a twist twixt cup and lip and all that…
And if it does get going, how long will it last?