Hell Freezes Over

26 March 2007



DUP and Sin Fein to Share Power in Ulster

The Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland is dedicated to continuing the union between Ulster and the rest of the United Kingdom. Sinn Fein is dedicated to the unification of Ulster with the Republic of Ireland. Add in the fact that the DUP is led by an octogenarian firebrand preacher and that Sinn Fein is led by a man believed by many to have been a top commander in the Irish Republican Army, and one gets two entities rabidly opposed to one another. It’s time to check the thermometer in Hell because the DUP and Sinn Fein have agreed to share power in the devolved assembly of Northern Ireland.

The Reverend Ian Paisley (who is to Ulster what George Wallace was to Alabama) said, “Our goal has been to see devolution returned in a context where it can make a real, meaningful improvement in the lives of all the people of this part of the United Kingdom. On Saturday, the DUP executive overwhelmingly endorsed a motion committing our party to support and participate fully in government in May of this year - this is a binding resolution.”

Gerry Adams, MP, said, “I believe the agreement reached between Sinn Fein and the DUP - including the unequivocal commitment made by their party executive and reiterated today - to the restoration of political institutions on 8 May marks the beginning of a new era of politics on this island. The basis of the agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP follows Ian Paisley’s unequivocal and welcome commitment to support and participate fully in the political institutions on 8 May.”

The Irish and British governments are pleased. Indeed, the New Labour government of Tony Blair has offered the province £35 billion over the next four year, recently threw in an extra billion and looks like it has agreed to hold off on sending out the first ever water bills for Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency [NISRA], an Executive Agency within the Department of Finance and Personnel, says there were 1,724,408 people in the province as of 2005. The bribe works out to be about £2,000 per person. Who says peace doesn’t come cheap?

Of course, the money wasn’t the sole reason for the agreement. The DUP and Sinn Fein are led by politicians, and politicians like being in elective office. Without a deal, the assembly wouldn’t meet, and they would be unable to legislate – London and Dublin would find another solution. Ambition clearly played a role.

There is a lesson in all of this for the rest of the world. Real peace in Ulster is still a long way off, but there is a basis for a settlement now. It didn’t come from building up the parties in the middle. The moderately republican SDLP and the moderately unionist UUP lost seats in the latest election, while the hard core parties picked up seats. The lesson is that peace is not made among friends, but among enemies. The situation in Ulster today looks a bit better as a result, even if Reverend Paisley and Mr. Adams still refuse to shake hands.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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