WELL here's to you, Mrs Robinson. Or maybe not. It's hard to be sure what part the scandal surrounding the wife of Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson played in achieving a huge step forward in Ulster's peace process at the end of last week.
There is no doubt at all that the deal between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein – which will mean that policing and justice powers will be devolved from Westminster by April 12 – is a big political achievement. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's role in reaching a settlement was a crucial one, and the beleaguered premier deserves great credit for what he has done. Ever since the peace process began in Northern Ireland, the question of policing has been a huge stumbling block.
First the Ulster Unionists and then Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party said it was unthinkable for Sinn Fein, with its links to the IRA, to be involved in security and policing in the northern counties. It was a very emotive issue, a standoff which had to be resolved if Northern Ireland was to move forward.
I have a number of relatives in Northern Ireland and, over the years, I've seen the situation move from the terrible Troubles which cost many lives to a desire for peace which was so overwhelming that politicians simply had to respond. The Good Friday agreement – for which Tony Blair deserves much credit – was a tremendous breakthrough.
The election of a power-sharing government at Stormont was something which people in Ireland could only dream about not so long ago. The new devolved government had quite a few shaky moments, but as long as it was in place, the terrorists’ guns were spiked. It was always known that until the issue of policing in Northern Ireland was resolved the community could not go forward at the pace which was required.
While loyalists could not countenance a security system in which people with links to the IRA would be involved, nationalists, likewise, could not support a police force which resembled the old Royal Ulster Constabulary. The RUC was seen as a Protestant force, and some of its members were believed to be passing information to loyalist assassination groups.
The policing arrangements put in force by the UK Government after the Good Friday agreement – particularly the recruitment of Catholic officers – proved to be helpful. But the proposed devolution of security power to the power-sharing government in Stormont was a different matter. Whenever the issue was raised, the old objections came to the surface.
That's why the intensive two-weeks’ worth of negotiations to resolve the impasse deserve to be hailed as a political triumph.
Sometimes, politics, deservedly, gets a bad name. The expenses scandal has damaged the standing of politicians, even those who were not involved in false claims. Ultimately, though, we need political processes to solve our toughest problems. The alternative is to allow terrorists with guns effectively to hold power. All the politicians who sat round the table were under pressure from their party members. But they had the courage to face down their own critics and produce a deal which will help Northern Ireland move forward.
The prime minister said: “The achievements have been as great as they are inspirational. This moment and this agreement belongs to the people of Northern Ireland, all of the people, and now more than ever before, so does their future. This is the last chapter of a long and troubled story and the beginning of a new chapter after decades of violence, years of talks, weeks of stalemate.”
The role played by First Minister Peter Robinson must not be underestimated. Selling an agreement to his backbenchers, all of whom would have to report back to sometimes angry constituents, could not have been easy. Robinson must have worked very hard behind the scenes to ensure that a majority of his party members would support a deal. It says a lot for his own personal authority that he was able to achieve this.
“There are some who will play politics with this agreement,” he said after the marathon round of talks, “but the real focus in the months to come must be on building an administration at Stormont that our whole community identifies with and supports.”
Understandably, he looked tired as he delivered these remarks. The combination of political pressure and lack of sleep is not a recipe for unlimited energy. When you add in the pressure he has been under in his personal life, his achievement is all the greater.
The affair of his wife, Iris, with a 19-year-old family friend has dominated the headlines. For a time, there was a media scrum around their door. Eventually, Mr Robinson had to take time off to deal with the crisis. The fact that he and his wife represented a strict evangelical Christian political base made things even more complicated.
Did his wife’s affair have any bearing on the negotiations? Put it this way: if the talks had collapsed because of a split in the DUP fuelled by Mrs Robinson’s affair, there would have been new assembly elections. An angry electorate would have punished the DUP at the polls. The potential fallout of the Iris Robinson scandal must have concentrated DUP minds. They simply could not risk a failure to reach a settlement – a failure which might have been seen as caused by the first minister's domestic problems.
We will never fully know the answer to that question. What we do know is that a former IRA man, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, hailed the talks as a success and went on to say that, as an Irish republican, he wanted to see a united Ireland, but he recognised unionists wanted to maintain links with Britain.
He insisted both communities could and should live together in mutual respect. “We need to make life better for our children and grandchildren. That is what this agreement must mean in practice.”
Who would have thought that such an event could ever happen in our lifetime?