Ireland - Building a new government

Building a new government
The most important problem with the two extremist parties was the refusal of the Democratic Unionists to talk with Sinn Féin.
You have to imagine this. Those two parties have to build a government together if they do not want direct rule by London, but they did not even speak to each other.

But before I go on, I will tell you something about Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, which was founded by him.
Ian Paisley was the leader of his Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. He is very anti-Catholic and held many hate sermons against Catholics.
He is guilty of much of the violence on Protestant side, because he animated the Protestants to hate the Catholics.
His political career was dominated by saying "no". He always tried to enforce his aims at any cost and refused any compromises. He is a real hardliner and this gave him the nickname "Doctor No".

Maybe, you can see now, how hard it would be to build a power-sharing government with Ian Paisley.
It is definitely not the fault of Sinn Féin, because they were the driving force in the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. They supported the Good Friday Agreement and fought for its complete realization. They went beyond their obligations demanded by the Good Friday Agreement. They even encouraged the IRA to start the decommissioning.
Nevertheless, the Democratic Unionists refused to talk to Sinn Féin, which meant to speak with former IRA people.

The first conference of the Northern Ireland Assembly was in September 2004.
But the conference was a bit complicated. Indeed the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin were in the same house, but they sit in different rooms, because Ian Paisley and his party did not want to speak directly with Sinn Féin. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern went between them. (Bertie Ahern is the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, which is something like the Prime Minister of a country. Taoiseach is a Gaelic title.)
The conference failed, because Ian Paisley wanted to talk about a revision of the Good Friday Agreement, which he did not support.

In July 2005, there was another turning point in the Peace Process. The IRA declared the end of their armed struggle. They said that they had asked their fighters to give up their weapons and aim at their targets peacefully.

Another attempt to build a government failed again, because the Democratic Unionists first wanted to see photos of the IRA’s disarming.
London set many deadlines, but nobody cared for them.

In the end of 2006, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern presented an agreement, which should help Belfast into self-government. It was the so-called St. Andrews Agreement. But it also said that another failure of building a new government meant direct rule by London once and for all.
The conditions were on the one side the acceptance of the police by Sinn Féin, which had always been a problem, because the reform was not as advanced as it should be; and on the other side, Ian Paisley’s party should confirm that the IRA had given up their arms.

In January 2007, Sinn Féin gave in and declared their respect of the police.
And by then, for the first time, "Doctor No" Ian Paisley said "yes". He said yes to the St. Andrews Agreement, yes to speak with Gerry Adams, leader of the Sinn Féin and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin’s candidate for First Minister and at last he said yes to the building of a government with Sinn Féin.

After new elections, last year in May, a power-sharing government of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Sinn Féin was built. Since then, Ian Paisley has been First Minister of Northern Ireland, while Martin McGuinness of the Sinn Féin is Deputy First Minister.

And it works!
These both men, who had been archenemies for so long, are now working together peacefully, almost amicably.
Their harmony spreads out a positive mood and hope for Northern Ireland.
Like Ian Paisley explained: It is a time for peace in Northern Ireland.

Now there are only two things left:
July 2007, the British troops ended their mission in Northern Ireland. The second thing is: March 2008, Ian Paisley declared his resignation as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and as First Minister of Northern Ireland in May 2008.
It may be a pity, because Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness are working together so harmonically and probably the relationship with each possible follower will be cooler. But on the other side, there are still many people in Northern Ireland, who are glad about this, because Ian Paisley has also caused a lot of trouble up there.
Anyway, Ian Paisley gave in the demands of his party and perhaps, Doctor No wanted to end his political career as Doctor Yes.