I heard with a certain delight this afternoon, the news that Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams agreed to deal concerning power-sharing in the Northern Irish Assembly. For the first time in his life, one can say that the man known as Dr No said yes.

It is worth remembering that the political journey of Ian Paisley, from the sixties up to now is closely linked with episodes of refusal and unrest which sometimes led to violence. Denying the fact that Northern Ireland was a ‘cold house of Catholics’ is impossible, despite warnings by the senior unionist Edward Carson not to alienate the Catholic populations as soon as Northern Ireland assembly was formed in 1921. From this date up to the sixties, most of the senior politicians in charge including the Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland themselves, did nothing to alleviate sectarianism, which was a long term necessity in order to foster any feeling of allegiance on the part of the Catholic community, preferring in their own words to rule ‘a protestant province for a protestant people’.

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As the results of the last elections for the Assembly of Northern Ireland are known for sure, we are now able to have a clear picture of what could be the next devolved assembly.

The main parties would be; the Democratic Unionist Party with 36 seats, the Sinn Fein with 28 seats, the Ulster Unionist Party with 18 seats and the Social Democratic and Labour Party with 16 seats. If a power sharing agreement is to be concluded, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams would be respectively First Minister and Deputy first minister with a government composed by members of the four main parties.

After years of disagreements, scandals, rows over nothing and before that almost thirty years of what can only be called in my opinion, a civil war. Normal political debates may resume for good, in Northern Ireland, more than ever the needs for this are huge if we believe. A recent BBC Newsnight document by Jeremy Paxman, is showing that now more than ever the issues, of tax rates and schooling matter more than anything else in Northern Ireland. Yet when some politicians and Mr Paisley is among them, are still rambling about the ghosts of the past and even if the climate has now changed separations between the communities are on the rise.
Sectarian politics, will never provide an answer to the actual problems of Northern Ireland and entrenching division will only create more waste, by dividing resources in schooling and health provision. When in order to allow tax rates to be as low as possible, the public services must be as efficient as possible; this is not possible when everything needs to be doubled. The time has now come for Northern Ireland, to get out sectarian politics and to enter in a new era of genuine ideological debate.

The trend in polarisations to the extreme ends of the existing spectrum, has now reached an end. Clearly both the DUP and the Sinn Fein won’t be able to increase their share of the votes in the future, since the swing was not as big as some envisioned and turnout is even lower than for the previous elections. In the mean time, the Green Party was able to gain its first seat in Stormont and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gained another seat.

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