A Tangled Web

THE FRIDAY ESSAY





The New Alliance



Dateline: November 2008.



The results were in and the shape of the third Assembly clear.



Ten years on from that defining Good Friday moment, the changes in Northern Ireland politics had crystallised for all to see.



The DUP topped the poll, just as it had done way back in 2003. This time though, it had accelerated past the 40 seat mark target and had finished up with 42 MLA’s. DUP Party Leader, Peter Robinson, proudly announced that Unionism was finally united under one roof and he would ensure that his party made its democratic case to Government. With the election of his son Jonathan, the Robinson triumvirate beamed in pleasure and all was well in the unionist tent.



His Deputy, Jeffrey Donaldson, expressed his delight at the dramatic gains the DUP had made across Northern Ireland. He seemed particularly thrilled that Lagan Valley had returned four DUP M.L.A.’s. He joked that it seemed like a million years ago since he had been in a divided weak-kneed duplicitous Party. Time has clearly not soothed all wounds.



The DUP had surprised more than few people over the lifetime of the ill-fated perma-frozen second Assembly. Those cynics who had confidently predicated that a deal would be done between the DUP and Sinn Fein had been proved wrong. Even after Dr. Paisley had stood down for health reasons, the DUP stood firm. Sure, there had been a review since the 2003 results first tipped the balance. In fact there had been several reviews, a renegotiation and an attempted re-launch! But nothing worked. The DUP insisted it would not sit in power with Sinn Fein and it had kept to its word. How the critics were silenced!



And what of Sinn Fein? A grey-haired Gerry Adams basked in the adulation as he lined up alongside his 30 newly returned MLA’s. He spoke of his satisfaction that Sinn Fein has become the party for nationalists and republicans. This little semantic difference hardly seemed to matter any longer since the difference had blurred to the point where it was chic, even de rigeur, to vote for the party that was the IRA’s alter-ego. Naturally the IRA had been on sustained cease-fire, so only a few dozen poor souls had disappeared without trace, only a few hundred had been brutalised by punishment beatings, and a only few thousand terrorised from their homes. The guns had been silent, apart for the occasional act of “internal housekeeping” and who would quibble with that? (Apart from the next of kin, and what do you expect from them?) The IRA had kept their word and their weapons.



However the most eagerly await result was that for the New Alliance – “a coalition of the witless” as one cynical obscurist commentator had labelled them. Formed from the remnants of the UUP, the SDLP and old Alliance, this was the most talked about development in many years in N. Ireland. It was a centre ground which put the Belfast Agreement first! Post-Unionist, post-Nationalist, it was positively post-modern!



New Alliance Leader David Trimble expressed his pleasure at having won 18 seats. The time for new politics was at hand, he declared. Perhaps the hand of history had found a net set of shoulders? His Deputy, Mark Durkan, concurred with this assessment pointing out that forming New Alliance had been necessary to save the Agreement once and for all. Endless debate about the Union or a United Ireland was passé in New Alliance circles. It has been decided. It was the Agreement to which primary loyalty was now sworn



Looking back on it, the road to New Alliance had been tough. Originally called Alliance of Nationalist and Unionist Solidarity, acronym problems required a swift u-turn. Then came the momentous decision by the Trimble controlled UUC to formally enter into a permanent relationship with the besieged SDLP. Mark Durkan had responded positively as he saw the collapse of his own middle ground. This was all about political survival.



And so it was that New Alliance came to hold the balance of power. The 60% weighted majority for any decision within the new Assembly seemed fair enough, after it, this was non-sectarian. What could be fairer than that?



The first motion put in front of the House was by Sinn Fein. It called upon this, the Third Assembly, to pursue a clear objective of total Irish unity by 2013. There was unionist uproar and vicious insults were traded. Speaker Ervine called for order - in as many words as he knew possible! Eventually the din subsided and all eyes turned to David Trimble. The New Alliance leader knew what he had to do. In the balcony, John Hume smiled....