Northern Ireland foes edge toward sharing power

This time around, the mutual mistrust centers on policing. Before it can join the power-sharing fraternity, Sinn Fein is supposed to publicly endorse the province's police force, traditionally a Protestant bastion. It says it will not do so until a firm date is set for the transfer of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast.

The DUP is not pleased with this stand.

"In any democracy, surely a person who is going to be a minister in a democratic government should support the rule of law," says Jeffrey Donaldson, a DUP member of the British parliament. "Can you imagine President Bush having in his cabinet a minister who didn't support the police and courts and rule of law in the United States?"

Then there is public apathy, even antipathy, toward the laborious process and bickering politicians. Political discourse has become more strident since the more extreme parties – the DUP and Sinn Fein – became the biggest groups inside the peace process tent, notes Professor Patterson.

That's a turn off for most of Northern Ireland's 1.7 million people, who simply want normalized public life after decades of polarized political discourse. A recent poll found that a slim majority supported the St. Andrews deal, but that two-thirds were skeptical it would lead to the restoration of self-rule by a March 26 deadline. Less than half of the DUP supporters back the deal, meaning that Paisley will have a tough time bringing his party with him.

Some are concerned moreover that the power-sharing deal is divisive, not inclusive, rewarding factional politicians and solidifying the divisions between Protestants and Catholics. Political leaders will represent their narrow sectarian interest and do little to integrate the feuding communities, at great cost to the province, warns Ian Williamson of the Alliance Party, the only Northern Ireland party that works on behalf of both communities.

He points, for example, to the many towns who still maintain separate schools, leisure clubs, and other facilities for Protestant and Catholics, and estimates that this waste costs Northern Ireland £1 billion a year.

"We need more integrated schools, more mixed housing, more shared facilities and services," he says. "We would like to see genuine and stable power sharing, but the St. Andrews agreement delivers a sectarian carve-up. Power is divided as opposed to shared."

Page: 1 | 2