Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond sees the Republic as an example of what a small country can achieve, writes Frank Millar
Alex Salmond and the Rev Ian Paisley will put relations between the governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland on a formal footing in talks at Stormont later today.
The leader of Scotland's new minority nationalist administration will also meet Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness jointly with Paisley and then separately, as in talks with the other parties, before addressing members of the Northern Ireland Assembly in the old Senate chamber.
Salmond will almost certainly enjoy cross-party support for efforts to persuade incoming British prime minister Gordon Brown to revive and actively pursue the "protocols" for joint ministerial liaison and co-operation between the British government in London and the devolved administrations in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
At the same time, Salmond again makes clear in an interview in today's Irish Times that he regards the Republic of Ireland as an example of what an independent Scotland could achieve in Europe.
Anticipating an early meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, Scotland's first nationalist First Minister also stresses his commitment to the bilateral Scottish-Irish relationship as well as to the North-South and East-West dimensions of the "all islands" approach to issues of common interest envisaged by the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
Salmond's visit at Paisley's invitation is his first official trip out of Scotland since becoming first minister at Holyrood following the May elections. It comes amid preparations for a high-profile meeting of the British Irish Council (BIC), thought likely to be held in Belfast in early July, with the date apparently awaiting confirmation following Brown's assumption of power next week.
While Brown and Ahern are expected to preside at the BIC meeting, Irish sources say it will give an early indication of whether the new Labour leader senses the potential to build on the radical changes that have taken place in the British political landscape since Tony Blair's original "devolution settlement" and the Belfast Agreement. Salmond speaks with passion about the change that has occurred in Northern Ireland and with evident delight at the DUP/Sinn Féin power-sharing deal.
Sitting in his office at Holyrood, I suggest some people might have been surprised to find him so friendly with the DUP leader. Unlike Blair, Paisley rang Salmond to congratulate him upon his election, later saying that "the point" about the Scottish first minister is that "he's a clever lad".
Presumably Salmond would return the compliment? "I'm certainly not going to call him a lad," he replies laughing. "I always show due deference to my elders." He has known Paisley as a colleague over many years in the House of Commons and remarks: "I'm really delighted that he and Mr McGuinness have formed a working relationship. I think that's first class."
While many - perhaps themselves included - would once have thought such a thing impossible, Salmond adds: "People who look to the future must have a heart to forgive."
Paisley has also been reported as suggesting that the present constitutional dispensation in the United Kingdom might be likened more to "federalism" than devolution. How does Salmond characterise the current state of the union?
"I think Dr Paisley has pointed out that our [ Scottish National Party] policy is to have the queen as head of state of an independent Scotland," he replies. "As Prince Andrew was pointing out just a few weeks ago, the union of the crowns preceded the union of the parliaments by over 100 years. And Dr Paisley I'm sure understands that because he's knowledgeable about these things."
Salmond is clear that his party wants to secure Scotland's eventual independence. "You're right, we do look to the Republic of Ireland as a great example of the success a small country can achieve, particularly in a European context."
At the same time this nationalist leader shows acute awareness of Scotland's strong links with Northern Ireland in particular: "They are the blood of our blood and the bone of our bone, to quote a Scottish poet."
His immediate purpose in working with the other devolved governments is to establish "how we structure our relationship with Westminster in a proper businesslike way, how we can identify matters of joint interest or joint concern, so that we can have a proper governance of the UK".
He explains: "My objective, of course, is to see Scotland have a different relationship in terms of Westminster government. But as Dr Paisley has pointed out, my objective is not to have a different relationship with the monarchy."
Salmond also makes clear he sees no ambiguity or contradiction in pursuing these various relationships - between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, or between Scotland and Wales or Northern Ireland - "in an ordered and structured way".
One area in which Salmond sees these relationships working to mutual benefit relates to the ongoing campaign by Northern Ireland's political leaders to have corporation tax levels brought into line with those of the Republic.
Far from objecting, Salmond confirms. "What we would say is 'that's a great idea, that's what we would like in Scotland'." But isn't that because it's fundamentally part of a nationalist agenda? Salmond insists it is a key part of an economic strategy highly applicable to smaller economies and that "subvention" is not the way ahead, adding: "I think Dr Paisley, rightly interested in the economic welfare of Northern Ireland, puts that first."
Salmond also suggests that properly functioning inter-governmental machinery might have avoided his public dispute with Blair over the prime minister's talks with Libya in respect of prisoner transfers, which Salmond fears could lead to the transfer of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.
Yet isn't this the bottom line, while Salmond needs currently to accentuate the positive while showing his party competent in government, the SNP's long-term goal of independence requires confrontation with Westminster?
The First Minister quotes a Daily Telegraph poll to prove this is emphatically not why he has just been elected to office. "I do not accept the premise that it is in my political interest to pick endless fights with Westminster. My political interest lies in Scotland being successful. Change happens against rising expectations.
"Expectations rise for a number of reasons but they occur when positive things are happening. The more positive things happen in Scotland the better it will be for the SNP."