The Minister for Health, Mr Micheal Martin, the SDLP Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, and the Sinn Fein Minister of Health, Ms Bairbre de Brun - the "pan-nationalist front", to use a dangerous phrase resurrected by some unionists - enjoyed a little victory yesterday.
Mr David Trimble tried to nobble Sinn Fein's involvement in the North-South meeting in Enniskillen, but as it turned out the party's health minister, Ms de Brun, probably enjoyed the most positive publicity of her short ministerial career.
With a large media presence for what should have been a fairly low-key affair, Mr Martin and Mr Mallon basked in the reflected glory.
The gathering of Irish Government, SDLP and Sinn Fein Ministers in Enniskillen may have been outside the framework of the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) but nonetheless, they went through an impressive amount of business dealing with health and food safety.
We had talk of food safety, particularly relevant at the moment in the shadow of the BSE debacle; there was mention of cancer and renal services; improving hospital accident and emergency services on both sides of the border; and developing high technology North-South health co-operation.
Mr Martin and his Sinn Fein counterpart, Ms de Brun, were the prime movers of the business. The SDLP Deputy First Minister, Mr Mallon, joined the ministers in the Killyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen, as a symbolic act of defending the North-South element of the agreement. Also present was Mr Tom Moffatt, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children.
There was no UUP minister in Enniskillen because of the First Minister Mr David Trimble's veto on Sinn Fein ministers attending NSMC meetings until such time as the IRA re-engages with Gen John de Chastelain's decommissioning body.
But the Ulster Unionist Party councillor, Mr Bertie Kerr, with the authorisation of Mr Trimble, attended the meeting in his capacity as chairman of the Food Safety Promotion Board which, although in existence for some time, was formally initiated yesterday. This is the first of the six implementation bodies established under the agreement to be formally introduced. The agreement goes on.
Because the meeting did not come under the umbrella of the NSMC, a strategy plan for the board and staffing issues could not be executed yesterday, but because so much business was transacted this wasn't viewed as particularly significant.
The Food Safety Promotion Board's interim chairman Mr Martin Higgins provided the Ministers and Mr Kerr with a progress report on its operations. He said that working to an annual budget of £4.873 million sterling, the board's remit was to "foster and maintain confidence in the food supply on the island of Ireland".
Mr Higgins said that on an all-island basis the board would engage in food safety promotion, research, advertising, scientific co-operation, and surveillance of food borne diseases. The ministers discussed progress on developing co-operation under five main headings: accident and emergency services; planning for major emergencies; co-operation on high-technology equipment; cancer research; and health promotion. Much emphasis on the phrases, "North-South", "all-island" and even "all-Ireland". So a good PR day for the nationalist ministers, even though the personable Mr Kerr ensured that all the kudos didn't go to the Irish Government, Sinn Fein and the SDLP. Mr Kerr was there to politely re-emphasise the point that when the IRA starts talking to the general, NSMC meetings in their proper capacity will be re-instituted.
Yet, this was still a "little victory" for nationalism. Mr Trimble may regret observing Mr Martin, Mr Mallon and Ms de Brun so positively in the spotlight but he will be satisfied that while his sanction carries bite, it has not scuppered the agreement.