Read about it here.On Tuesday Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), took office as Northern Ireland's first minister, forming an administration with his former foe, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, who now takes over as deputy leader. They will head a new 12-member administration which will take back control of government departments that had been run from London for the past five years. Allegations of intelligence gathering within Belfast's government buildings led to the collapse of the first attempt at devolved government back in 2002. Power-sharing had been the central goal of the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which had been brokered by the United States, Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
The two hard-line parties that formed the government on Tuesday were made the dominant political forces in Northern Irish politics in elections in 2003, pushing aside the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as the main representatives of the Protestant and Catholic communities. While that was greeted with dismay by many at the time, commentators now agree that the fact that it is the less moderate parties who have agreed to share power augers well for the future. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, a member of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet, said on Tuesday:"These are the two most polarized forces in Northern Ireland's politics, they have done the deal and that's why I believe it's here to stay for good."
Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the Bush-Blair global war on terror.
