Belfast, Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland’s Catholics and Protestants agreed to a power-sharing local government Monday, following a deal stuck by two political leaders who had bitterly denounced each other for decades but never held a conversation.
The new provincial government will begin May 8 under terms agreed to by the Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the province’s largest Protestant party, and Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Fein, the largest Catholic party. Sitting side by side in an ornate dining room in Stormont, Northern Ireland’s palatial parliament building, the two fierce rivals pledged cooperation in governance of a province where their followers engaged in a three-decade war that claimed more than 3,600 lives.
“After a long and difficult time in our province, I believe that enormous opportunities lie ahead,” said Paisley, 80, a Protestant minister known as “Dr. No” for his many years of often vitriolic denunciation of Catholics and Adams personally. “I am committed to delivering for not only those who voted for the DUP, but for all the people of Northern Ireland.”
Adams, whose party is closely affiliated with the Irish Republican Army, said the agreement represented “the beginning of a new era of politics” and cooperation between rivals in the province.
