W2E-004 Mixed Ulster editorials-0.txt
Balancing act

EVEN before the Republic's new coalition government was finalised, Sir Patrick Mayhew was offering some pointed advice on Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution. They were regarded as "an unhelpful territorial claim" to part of the UK and would be a central ingredient, he said, in discussions about a resumption of political talks in Northern Ireland.

His remarks confirm that Articles 2 and 3 were the main stumbling block to agreement. The Unionists wanted an assurance that a referendum "would" be held in the event of agreement being reached on new structures, but Dublin would only say that it "could".

Sir Patrick was lending weight to the unionist case, providing a necessary counter-balance to his sympathetic appraisal of the nationalist tradition in his Coleraine speech before Christmas.

Anyone who thought he was "going soft" by suggesting that Sinn Fein could qualify for early inclusion of the talks now knows the true position: there would have to be a "sufficient period" after renunciation of violence before dialogue with the authorities would be possible.

The message to the new government in Dublin is equally clear. If there is no change on Articles 2 and 3, which confer a "constitutional imperative" on governments to pursue Irish unity, further talks are pointless.

It remains to be seen how serious the new coalition administration is in facing up to the Northern Ireland problem. The agreed document between Fianna Fail and Labour only promised a referendum for any "agreed package", emphasising a "balanced accommodation" and avoiding all mention of the disputed articles.

The hope must be that, since it was Mr Dick Spring who broke ranks last year by proposing a suspension of Anglo-Irish conferences, his moderating influence will soon be felt. With more boldness, progress could be made but that is an unlikely prospect.

Although Mr Reynolds has been more realistic than his predecessors, neither he nor Mr Spring will want to risk coalition solidarity over the North, at least until after Ulster's local government elections in May. For them, there are far more pressing economic problems to resolve. Here, unfortunately, the parties are starting to dig their trenches already.
