Denzil McDaniel: Stormont is back, but will it be a false dawn?

MY fellow Tottenham Hotspur soccer fans have had their dreams dashed so often that we regularly trot out a sporting cliché at the latest letdown: “It’s the hope that kills you.”

Many in wider society in Northern Ireland will have the phrase at the back of their minds as a long-suffering public ponders the start of another new era in politics here after the return of the Stormont Executive.

Saturday was a good day when the Assembly was restored after a frustrating two-year hiatus; and the fast-moving events of the last week have rightly invoked much optimism and positivity.

However, there’s a natural cautiousness that we’ve had a few false dawns over 25 years and it’s a valid question to ask what will be different this time.

It’s a massive challenge for those elected in May 2022 who have yet to fulfill their mandate.

Northern Ireland society is broken in all sorts of socio-economic ways and trust in the devolved political process is at a very low ebb. The key to restoring both will be the ability of the Executive parties to have the vision to produce a Programme for Government which will address the difficulties in health, education, the economy and the many other issues which are causing real hardship in people’s lives.

Equity will also be vital, and not only in terms of the layers of society but also geographically. Rural areas are resentful that they have been left behind correspondingly more than areas in the east. The uplift of the political process has not found its way into all corners of society or all corners of Northern Ireland.

The main reason that there were no champagne corks popping in the country at large when Stormont returned was that many feel it should never have been away in the first place. But we are where we are, and now delivery of key outcomes to make people’s lives better must be the goal.

Such is the size of the task, nobody expects everything to be resolved overnight. But there must be early evidence of the Executive setting out their stall.

To do that, there will have to be a positive attitude of properly sharing power and responsibility.

The early signs are good with the speeches by First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly on Saturday setting a positive tone. They are leaders of their time in a sense; two women with a background of families involved in the conflict but representing a new generation with both promising to reach out across the political divide.

At their joint press conference outside Stormont House on Monday, their body language suggested they were comfortable with each other and had bought into a new dawn.

It’s unrealistic, however, not to expect some politicking in the wider context.

The significance of a member of Sinn Féin becoming first minister in the former bastion of one-party unionist rule should not be underestimated and nobody should be surprised that it remains the party’s aim to secure a united Ireland via a border poll.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris's suggestion that Ms O’Neill and Sinn Féin shouldn’t focus on reunification will rankle with many nationalists who feel the British Government’s deal with the DUP went too far in bolstering the unionist position.

For its part, unionism will have its own political considerations. Things moved quickly after Sir Jeffrey Donaldson decided to go for it and he has shown considerable political courage and nous in facing down his opponents in unionism. While Sir Jeffrey looks confident, Jim Allister cut a lonely and angry figure at Stormont in recent days.

But his opposition will not go away. Opposition has dogged unionist progress for years, even since the Terence O’Neill days, and will continue to be vocal, albeit without mass protest.

It also remains to be seen how the divisions within the DUP play out.

At some point, unionism will have to grasp the change going on all around them.

Nationalism, republicanism and unionism, indeed “other”, cannot ignore or abandon their raison d’etre.

But in the short-term, people want the problems of everyday life addressed.

In her opening remarks, the new First Minister said: “Despite our different outlooks and views on the future constitutional position, the public rightly demands that we co-operate, deliver and work together.”

The Deputy First Minister said: “Across this chamber we have different political viewpoints and experiences, but what we also know is that the mummy waiting on her cancer diagnosis is not defined as being republican or loyalist.”

If their parties and others follow through, then perhaps hopes will be justified after all.

Denzil McDaniel is a former editor of The Impartial Reporter @DenzilMcDaniel