The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, yesterday launched a guide to the planned Northern Ireland Assembly elections, despite the lack of certainty over whether the contest will go ahead next month.
The Tallyman's Guide to the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 2003 includes profiles of all the North's constituencies and the outgoing Assembly members, as well as a summary of the results of the 1998 Assembly election and the 2001 Westminster election in the North.
The book is co-authored by Mr Noel Whelan and Mr Nicholas Whyte.
Mr Whelan is a barrister who has written a number of books on Irish politics, including guides to the local and European elections of 1999, the general election of last year and to politics in 2003.
Mr Whyte is an honorary research fellow at Queen's University, Belfast and works for a number of international organisations on Balkan and other eastern European conflicts.
Both have worked as political party organisers and have stood unsuccessfully for election: Mr Whelan for Fianna Fáil and Mr Whyte for the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland and the Liberal Democrats in Cambridge.