Birth
of Northern Executive is redolent of history The great adventure has begun,
writes Deaglan de Breadun, Northern Editor, who assesses the power-sharing
Executive which was appointed at Stormont yesterday
From IRISH TIMES November 30th, 1999
The birth of the new political set-up in Northern Ireland contained irresistible
echoes of the growing pains of democracy south of the Border. The debate
over the reinstatement of Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister was oddly
reminiscent of the controversy over de Valera and the Oath.
Everyone knew Dev was, in reality, taking an oath of fidelity to the crown,
but his accompanying casuistry and Jesuitical rationalisations were tolerable
for the sake of society as a whole. It was neither sustainable nor wise
to have such a large proportion of the political class and the people they
represented remaining out in the cold. There is little doubt, in terms of
common sense, that Mr Mallon quit his job as Deputy First Minister-designate
last July.
He said at the time he was offering to resign "with immediate effect". But
as the Initial Presiding Officer, Lord Alderdice, pointed out yesterday:
"It is a question of law, not of common sense." By all accounts a great
deal of work went into the preparation of the standing order presented by
the Northern Ireland Secretary just an hour before the Assembly convened
in the afternoon.
Carefully worked-out choreography is the hallmark of this process. Nevertheless,
there must have been a fair amount of nail-biting at official and governmental
level as the new rules were presented to the Assembly by Lord Alderdice.
As so often, uncertainty reigned. The prospect of the Rev Ian Paisley or
Mr Robert McCartney rushing off to get a judge to press the pause-button
on the well-planned sequence of events seemed a very real one.
There was the usual procedural wrangle that accompanies almost every step
forward in Northern Ireland. The mild-mannered Secretary of State was accused
of a "dictatorial act" and even compared to Mussolini. Mr Norman Boyd of
the Northern Ireland Unionist Party described it as "the death of democracy".
While peace process insiders were reasonably confident over the weekend
that the move would succeed, there must nevertheless have been a large sigh
of relief when Mr McCartney indicated in a UTV interview that he was not
considering court action because it would be a case of locking the stable
door after the horse had bolted. Later, however, Dr Paisley revealed he
would be seeking legal advice. It was not a pretty sight, but in the end
the pro-agreement parties held their noses and voted the Alliance Party
motion through.
Resignation, what resignation? The real problem, of course, was not the
re-election of Mr Mallon, who might well have secured a majority of both
nationalists and unionists. The difficulty was that Mr Trimble would also
have had to submit himself to this parallel consent rule, which applies
to the election of First and Deputy First Ministers. We could haveended
up with Mr Mallon back in his old job and Mr Trimble out in the cold.
There were echoes, too, of the election of Senator George Mitchell as chair
of the multiparty talks in 1996. Then, as now, the ball was heaved over
the line by the sheer weight of the pack on the pro-agreement side. Hopefully,
like the freezing-out of the media during the Mitchell review, it will not
set a precedent for the conduct of affairs in post-Good Friday Northern
Ireland.
More democracy, not less, is what we need. The success of the Mallon resignation
manoeuvre had been quietly signalled in advance, but the plan to have greatness
thrust upon Mr Sam Foster, one of two UUP Assembly members for Fermanagh-South
Tyrone, was kept a closely-guarded secret. Sources report that Belfast voted
overwhelmingly against Mr Trimble at the Ulster Unionist Council last weekend,
but it appears he scored well west of the Bann, and Mr Foster's loyalty
was now to get its reward. Journalists recalled video footage of him helping
to pull the victims from the rubble after the Enniskillen bomb. |
