March 28, 2007

For Cod and Ulster: On the Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland

by the Rev. Doug Baker
PC(USA) Regional Liaison for Ireland and the United Kingdom

Recent events raise hopes in Northern Ireland for agreement on more than a restaurant’s menu. Photo provided by Doug Baker.

Recently a new fish and chip shop opened in East Belfast. Its name, For Cod and Ulster, is a clever pun on the well known Loyalist slogan "For GOD and Ulster."   The metal shutter lowered whenever the shop is closed has a cartoon sketch of Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley saying, “Probably the best chippy in Northern Ireland” and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams replying, “At least we agree on something.” 

Whether it is the best chip shop in Northern Ireland or not, just a few weeks ago most people would have shared the sentiment that agreement at such a level was about as much as might be expected from Paisley and Adams. Then, on March 26, a new and significant corner was turned in Northern Ireland’s long and detour-plagued peace process. 

March 26 had been set in legislation by the British government as an absolute deadline by which the two parties with the highest vote in the March 7 elections had to indicate their willingness to go into power-sharing by nominating a First Minister and Deputy First Minister. If the deadline was missed devolution of powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly was to be put on hold for at least several years, the salaries of the Assembly’s members stopped, unpopular policies on domestic rates, water charges and education — which had been put on hold — implemented immediately, and Northern Ireland ruled by Direct Rule ministers appointed by the UK government but with a greater role given to the Irish government as well. 

Sinn Fein indicated weeks ago they were prepared to nominate Ian Paisley as First Minister and Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister. However, the DUP stated time and again that they were not yet persuaded that the conditions were right for power-sharing. On March 24, their 120-member-strong Executive met and over 90 percent of those present agreed to commit themselves to going into power-sharing — but to seek a delay until May 8.  Presumably they felt this would give their own skeptics more time to assess whether Sinn Fein are truly committed to leaving violence behind and are prepared to give their full support to policing and law and order — and would also indicate that they were not being dictated to by anyone else about the timing for movement. Publicly they said the delay would give time for the Northern Ireland parties to put more pressure on the UK government for a larger financial package than has so far been promised as a peace dividend and time for those who will be nominated as cabinet Ministers in the new Stormont Assembly to prepare so that they can hit their posts running. Whatever their reasons, the British Secretary of State Peter Hain insisted that he could not alter the deadline set in legislation and the only way things could change was if the Northern Ireland parties themselves came up with a different deal and brought it forward as a joint proposal.

That is what happened. Over the weekend there was shuttle diplomacy going on between DUP and Sinn Fein politicians and some face to face meetings of officers.  Then, on March 26, ten-member-strong delegations from each party met for under an hour in the dining room of the Assembly Building for the first ever face-to-face meeting including the party leaders. Shortly afterwards they sat on adjacent sides of a diamond-shaped table and announced their agreement to the world. Time has aptly described this as “a very Irish sort of compromise: they sat close together but on different sides, separated by a sharp edge.”

As part of his remarks, Ian Paisley said, “We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future.”

Gerry Adams’ remarks included, “We have all come a very long way in the process of peacemaking and national reconciliation. We are very conscious of the many people who have suffered. We owe it to them to build the best future possible. It is a time for generosity, a time to be mindful of the common good and of the future of all our people.”

Adams also made it clear that Sinn Fein’s willingness to agree to the six week delay followed the unequivocal commitment from the DUP to engage fully in all of the restored political institutions come May 8. That will include cross border ministerial councils with the Republic of Ireland.

Faced with such an historic breakthrough between Northern Ireland’s more extreme unionist and nationalist parties, British Secretary of State Peter Hain and Prime Minister Tony Blair sensibly found a way to build on their move. Emergency legislation was rushed through Westminster to allow for the delay. 

A few significant DUP leaders have resigned their Party membership believing that this is a step too far. Many Ulster Unionist and SDLP politicians understandably feel annoyed that their respective rival parties, who for decades acted as wreckers of political progress here, have only been willing to engage fully in power-sharing now that they have outmaneuvered the UUP and SDLP and achieved undisputed positions of power on their respective sides. However, public reaction has largely been gratitude that another major hurdle has been passed and that the new attitudes being shown provide rarely felt promise about real change being possible here.  But there is also widespread caution. Several commentators have written, “Two Cheers for Devolution,” believing that giving the usual “three” is still premature or lacks any realism.  They know that this is a hugely significant moment but at the same time only another step in a long journey still ahead.

Significant differences between the DUP and Sinn Fein on most major issues that the Northern Ireland Assembly will have to deal with could still lead to an early collapse or to paralysis at the heart of government. Monday’s agreement is the result of Sinn Fein and the Republican Movement realizing years ago that it could not win through violence — and the result of the DUP adjusting to the reality that a Shared Future is the only option and power-sharing the only governing option open to them here. However, it has to be acknowledged that Monday’s breakthrough also came under huge pressure to seize the prize (local control of decision-making) now — at considerable cost to your respective ideals — or lose any hope of it for a long period.  Skeptics might say that at eighty Ian Paisley may well have thought of his legacy and a genuine desire to be remembered for securing peace and that for Sinn Fein, always prepared to take the long-term view, six weeks delay is nothing in exchange for the positive light it sheds on them in advance of impending elections in the Republic of Ireland where they will also be standing and hope to increase their representation. 

For all its very important potential, Monday’s historic meeting between Paisley and Adams, quite understandably, did not include a handshake. Symbolically it was a reminder that the challenge in Northern Ireland remains to change the historic pattern of relating between the two main political / religious / ethnic blocs.  A big step forward has occurred — and a long journey remains.  Please continue to pray for politicians, church leaders, community workers and ordinary people here to move, step by step, away from distrust, exclusion and violence as together they painstakingly create a shared future of equity, diversity and inter-dependence.