It's not just about photographs - the new agreement jettisons important elements of the Good Friday agreement, writes Mark Durkan.
The Irish people learned last Wednesday that Sinn Féin and the DUP between them had negotiated a new "Comprehensive Agreement".
There are things in it that are welcome, such as the commitment on paper to power-sharing by the DUP and the commitment on paper to ending paramilitary but, apparently, not criminal activity by the IRA. These are things that should have happened long ago. Not just on paper but in fact.
The SDLP does not want to jeopardise any of this important progress, but nor are we willing to hide our concerns about this "Comprehensive Agreement" and its chances of providing equality and stability. For this "new agreement" weakens the principles and protections of the real agreement - the Good Friday agreement.
Take the principle of joint and equal leadership first. Reflecting it, the Good Friday agreement provides for a First Minister and a deputy First Minister elected together as equals and working jointly together.
Peter Robinson in negotiations with the SDLP was explicit that the DUP would not make appearances and statements together with a Sinn Féin deputy First Minister - even in the Assembly. The DUP wants to stand apart. That suits its vision of the future - separate and unequal.
That's why the DUP wanted the joint election of the First Ministers scrapped. They know that if they are able to avoid appearing together with a Sinn Féin deputy First Minister on day one, they can avoid doing much together thereafter. Sinn Féin quickly conceded this - doubtless because they don't want to be closely identified with a DUP First Minister either.
But what suits the DUP and Sinn Féin does not necessarily serve the public. United only by their love of power and their dislike of each other, the DUP and Sinn Féin will try to divide the North between them - power-carving instead of power sharing; communities growing apart, not together. The long-term price could be a heavy one paid by us all.
Next to be undermined is the principle of inclusion - the principle that each party has the right to nominate ministers to the Executive on the basis of its own democratic mandate, the principle that no party should vet other parties' ministerial appointments.
The "Comprehensive Agreement" weakens this. It says the Executive has to be approved by a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists in the Assembly. The DUP has the majority of unionist votes. So if it doesn't want a nationalist or a republican to hold, for example, the education or justice portfolios, all it needs do is threaten to vote against the new Executive if this happens.
Sinn Féin at first denied that this was a new veto. Now however it accepts that it is - but argues that it doesn't matter because if the veto is exercised, there has to be fresh Assembly elections. But that won't scare the DUP. It will be happy to seek the backing of the unionist electorate for its stance. The damage to inclusion does not stop there - since the "Comprehensive Agreement" also provides that those who do not vote to approve the Executive cannot take a seat in it.
When Séamus Mallon and David Trimble were elected, neither the DUP nor Sinn Féin voted for the First Ministers. Yet both parties got seats in the Executive - as they were fully entitled to do. Now these parties have contrived a situation where if any party even just abstains on the vote - to record unhappiness at unjustified changes to the Good Friday agreement - it will be excluded automatically from office.
Worse, if there has to be a mid-term election for a new set of First Ministers - to allow Paisley to be replaced by Robinson - any party that does not vote for the new First Ministers will be automatically excluded from office.
So, to put it simply, you can be a bigot and hold ministerial office. You can have a criminal conviction and hold ministerial office. But if you dare not to vote for Sinn Féin and DUP as First Ministers, you are automatically excluded from office. How democratic is that?
The principle of inclusion was a fundamental of the agreement. The principle of a free vote was even more fundamental. How can anybody argue that the fundamentals have not been undermined?
I could go on - for the damage goes further. The DUP has won a veto over decisions of nationalist ministers - undermining its executive authority. It has been able to stymie any upfront commitment to new areas for North-South co-operation and implementation.
How did all this come about? By private negotiations between the DUP and Sinn Féin, using the two Governments as intermediaries. The secretive and exclusive nature of those negotiations allowed parties to put private interests - and private armies - ahead of the public interest.
Instead of resisting vetoes which the DUP will use to humiliate nationalists again and again in government, Sinn Féin worried about photos. For our part, the SDLP has not backed the DUP demands on photos - but we did back the governments' compromise proposal.
Instead of forcing the British government to release the truth about state killings, Sinn Féin forced the Irish Government to agree to release killers of this State's police force. Instead of getting the Good Friday agreement honoured by all parties, the DUP got a contrived "Comprehensive Agreement" which it could boast superseded it.
The governments have published a new "Comprehensive Agreement" so the public can debate it. The Irish people may feel a sense of affront, and, dare I say, humiliation that the agreement they approved has been renegotiated behind closed doors. They will certainly have a lot to debate - and it's not just about photos.
Mark Durkan, MLA, is the leader of the SDLP