SHARING POWER
Northern Ireland
On May 8, 2007, power was restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time since October 2002. Following landmark local elections, the main Catholic and Protestant parties agreed on a power-sharing government.
Although it remained a British province after the rest of Ireland became a republic in 1922, Northern Ireland had its own parliament. But the British government suspended it in 1972 after violence broke out between the Catholic minority and the Protestant majority. There followed three decades of "Troubles," with terrorist bombings by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and illegal killings by the Protestant-dominated police force.
Peace talks in the 1990s led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly. But Britain again suspended the power-sharing body in 2002, because of suspicion of an IRA spy ring in the Assembly (which later turned out to be untrue).
Now the main Republican party, Sinn Fein, has agreed to support a new joint police force. If Sinn Fein's main Protestant rivals, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), can be convinced that the Republicans will cooperate with the new police force and that the new government will get sufficient funding from London, local government of Northern Ireland could resume.
Elections took place on March 7, giving Catholic and Protestant voters a chance to choose a power-sharing government. The DUP obtained 36 seats, Sinn Fein 28 seats and the Ulster Unionist Party 18 seats. Power was to be restored to the Stormont Assembly on March 26.
Former rivals sworn in as self-rule revived
Former Protestant and Catholic rivals Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have been sworn in as Northern Ireland's first minister and deputy.
More than just a political party
‘Shinners’ talk about what it means to join Northern Ireland’s leading republican party.
Touring a ‘no-go’ zone
Former IRA prisoner Padraic Cotter gives tours of a West Belfast neighbourhood that was a no-go zone during ‘The Troubles.’
Changing face of Irish politics
Politics in Northern Ireland is no longer just a fight between republicans and unionists, as Chinese-born candidate Anna Lo can attest.
