`A Voice for the Voiceless". I saw the phrase painted on a wall in Lurgan three months ago on the day that Rosemary Nelson was buried. It was used again, several times, by representatives of the legal profession who gathered in Dublin on Tuesday evening to pay tribute to a fearless solicitor, who always saw it as her role to demand that all citizens, no matter how hostile they might seem to the authorities, be given equal treatment before the law. The meeting was held in the headquarters of the Law Society in Blackhall Place. A handsome hall with high ceilings and engravings of legal luminaries from the past massed on the walls, it seemed a long way from the dreary streets and tribal hatreds of Co Armagh.
John MacMenamin, the chairman of the Bar Council, spoke movingly of Mrs Nelson's funeral and how poor those who waited to mourn her had seemed. "She did not represent the rich, the successful or the famous," he said. "Instead, she chose to represent those who were profoundly alienated from the structures of the state."
Gareth Peirce, who has defended so many Irish people in British courts, described the dilemma which faces many lawyers in a situation, like that of Northern Ireland, where the system of justice has been distorted to meet the requirements of the state. They have a choice: either to stand aside or to fight, using the tools that remain, to defend this bedrock of democracy - that all citizens are entitled to equal representation before the law.
A very senior judge in Northern Ireland, now dead, once told me of his profound misgivings that members of the judiciary had agreed to the British government's demands that they operate the Diplock courts. With the benefit of hindsight, he believed it would have served the cause of justice better if he and his colleagues had refused. But, at the time, it seemed the right decision, preferable to internment in that it offered some legal protection to the individual.
To be fair, the judges in Northern Ireland did their best, against a background of terrible violence, to maintain high standards in the administration of justice. They did much better than their colleagues in the British courts when confronted with a similar challenge. So did many members of the legal profession. Rosemary Nelson paid the ultimate price because she insisted on using the instrument of the law, convincing those who had no faith in the structures of the state that their grievances could be redressed by legal, non-violent methods.
This, in essence, is what the whole peace process has been about. We have come a creditable way on the road to building a working democracy in Northern Ireland, something it is important to emphasise when the British and Irish governments are talking about "setting aside" the Belfast Agreement - whatever that is supposed to mean.
The last thing politicians in Northern Ireland need just now is another deadline. The situation is dangerous and difficult, but when was it otherwise? Last week's elections reminded us of the deep political divisions that still exist, which is one of the reasons we have elections. The Rev Ian Paisley's vote cannot be ignored by the parties involved in trying to take the Belfast Agreement forward, but the discontent of his supporters has been expressed effectively through the ballot box.
Sinn Fein's vote has demonstrated how successful the Belfast Agreement has been in bringing many of the most alienated into the political mainstream. The centre, which is in favour of negotiation and compromise, has held firm. This was shown in John Hume's vote and in Jim Nicholson's success in holding the Ulster Unionist seat, despite the lack of support from leading members of his own party.
A deliberately positive spin? Maybe, but one that demands to be considered when the Taoiseach has said the agreement will "effectively" be set aside and the Assembly suspended if the June 30th deadline for the devolution of powers is not met. Whatever about Tony Blair's inclination to issue ultimatums in order to force the pace, Bertie Ahern should have a somewhat calmer perspective of how long it takes to lay to rest the legacy of hundreds of years of history.
At least we can now see that the foundations of a solution are in place. There is a functioning Assembly. In many local councils across the North, unionists sit on committees with Sinn Fein and the SDLP. A Sinn Fein councillor, Marie Moore from the Lower Falls, has been elected deputy mayor of Belfast. On Tuesday, UTV's Insight programme showed her presiding benignly over a high-spirited reception in City Hall for Belfast's gay community. These are not small things for those of us who remember, not so long ago, when the Belfast council was a byword for sectarian and social exclusion.
It seems that Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern share the view that there is nothing left to discuss on the decommissioning issue and no point in prolonging the agony. It is true that we face into a very difficult summer, but that is part of the problem which the Belfast Agreement still has to resolve. The political leaders of all the parties face difficult decisions. The European election has left David Trimble in a position where he has almost no room for manoeuvre. Gerry Adams's leadership, on the other hand, has been strengthened by Sinn Fein's vote in both parts of the island. He has demonstrated to his followers that they can achieve their objectives by democratic means.
This puts a heavy onus on the republican movement. In terms of strict legality, there is no precondition for decommissioning before the executive is set up. But if Mr Adams and his colleagues are serious about their commitment to the Belfast Agreement, they need David Trimble to work with them to implement it.
The Belfast Agreement brought new hope to hundreds of thousands of people in both communities in Northern Ireland. Talk of setting it aside helps nobody and is a betrayal of all those who have taken so many risks for peace.