Does this jolly photo mean that the three organisations these gentle- men represent will become more than friends off the field - and fraternise on the field as well? They are, from left, Noel Murphy, president of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Joe McDonagh, president of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Pat Quigley, president of the Football Association of Ireland at the opening of the GAA Museum at Croke Park on Tuesday. The GAA headquarters is a state-of-the-art stadium, described by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, as a "world class" venue of international stature. Both rugby and soccer share a run-down Lansdowne Road, and are looking for somewhere else to play. So far Croke Park has been resolutely not available. Pop concerts, Yes; foreign games, No. Obviously, though, there are no hard feelings. (See story below)
Leinster House and Westminster this week ail and the House of Commons ??on Wednesday and the Seanad and the House of Lords on Thursday?? passing new anti-terrorist legislation; the North's First Minister, David Trimble being conciliatory on the steps of Government Buildings in Dublin and attending funerals, to applause, in Donegal; Tony Blair at Ashford Castle for co-operation talks; Gerry Adams denouncing violence and Martin McGuinness discussing decommissioning. All these surprising but welcome developments stemmed from the dreadful Omagh bombing.
In Leinster House at the special sitting this week the atrocity was seen as a watershed. By strength of public revulsion it hardened the Belfast Agreement, distanced Sinn Fein even further from violence and is forcing all factions into an accommodation. The First Minister has called all party leaders, including Adams, to a meeting on Monday to discuss fully implementing the agreement passed by referendums North and South. Both he and Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon, are determined that differences must be put aside.
The Assembly elected in June will meet on Monday week. The new shadow executive should be in place well before Christmas and able to take over its responsibilities (which, in common with Cardiff and Edinburgh, exclude defence and foreign relations) early in the new year. Business has to be done. Omagh has made it more likely than not.
To ensure success, Assembly members are being tutored in how to be parliamentarians. They are all long-seasoned politicians, but have no experience of dealing with departments and budgets, a problem New Labour itself faced 18 months ago. Two two-day courses - one looking at the processes of government, the other at budgets and costs - have been organised by the NIO following a party leaders' request to Mo Mowlam, and politicians of all hues, and civil servants, who are also unversed in such responsibilities, are learning their business. Whitehall mandarins are on hand as tutors and there has been no bickering in the classroom. The absence of the media is seen as the recipe for calm.