Chance for a lasting peace in North

THE horrifying images from Beslan pulled at the heartstrings of every parent with a child gone back or starting at school during the week.

Yet it was not so long ago that paramilitaries on this island felt it was acceptable to sacrifice innocent children to advance their political cause.

While on a different scale and under different circumstances to the carnage in North Ossetia, the atrocities carried out in Northern Ireland will linger long in the memory.

The devastation in Beslan should make everyone cherish the peace of sorts that has existed in the North for the past 10 years since the IRA first declared its ceasefire.

Over the past decade, Northern Ireland has thrived on the unstable peace that has allowed people to live in relative normality. Let’s not get too carried away, though; the situation is far from perfect as on a daily basis there continue to be paramilitary beatings and shootings and the level of criminal activity by paramilitary organisations remains unchecked. The rise of sectarianism has also gone unchecked and remains an enduring problem.

The possibilities for the North if that peace could be definitively proven to be beyond question are boundless.

Groundhog day is developing fast in the Northern Ireland peace process. After being within touching distance of a deal last year, the Irish and British governments are preparing the ground for the set-piece deal-making scenario in mid-September at Leeds Castle in Yorkshire.

Yet again, the North is on the brink of history, but it’s so close and yet so far. The chances of the outstanding issues being resolved remain on a knife-edge. Ten years after the declaration of the IRA ceasefire, it’s time to make the organisation redundant.

The governments and the political parties are narrowing down the items of contention. At meetings during the week between the Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen, his colleague Northern Secretary Paul Murphy and the various political parties, the issues related to Strands Two and Three of the Good Friday Agreement were closely examined.

By clearing through as much ground as possible and identifying areas of convergence, the sides will be able to acknowledge the differences and then explore where there is room to bridge the gaps.

The key issues identified by the governments for resolution are clear to all:

* Ending paramilitarism.

* Addressing decommissioning.

* Policing reforms set out by the Patten Commission and the devolution of policing and justice.

* Achieving the full operation of the institutions, with any agreed changes being implemented.

Trying to bring this plan about by consensus is easier said than done. While each individual item is important in its own right, each issue is essentially intertwined and the entire package has to be agreed in one fell swoop. In other words, it’s all or nothing.

Setting aside his preparations for his move to the Department of Finance, Mr Cowen, summed up the present scenario.

“This is a critical moment for the process. We don’t need more time to resolve the key issues. We need the will,” he said.

Ironically, while the Taoiseach was recently able to gain agreement among 25 divergent countries on the EU Constitution, getting the DUP and Sinn Féin to sign from the same hymn sheet is an immensely more daunting prospect.

The ultimate goal, though, is worth the effort, irrespective of the patience required to bring it about. There is a generation of people growing up in Northern Ireland who, quite fortunately, do not know what it is like to grow up in the Troubles.

To put it in context, there is a generation growing up on this side of the Border who do not know what it’s like to experience living through a recession with unemployment hitting one in five workers and emigration regarded as the only way out.

The difference to ordinary people’s lives is real and tangible. The politicians of Northern Ireland have an opportunity to make it last.