With the publication yesterday of the British government's proposed legislation for elections to a Northern Ireland forum and of the ground rules for substantive all party negotiations, the way has been cleared for the most important opportunity in a generation to reach a settlement in Northern Ireland and among the peoples who inhabit these islands.
There is no organic linkage between the elected forum and the negotiations. The arms decommissioning issue is to be addressed rather than resolved at the beginning of the talks. Crucially, the condition that a ceasefire must be in place and a commitment made to exclusively democratic means of reaching agreement pose a stark and clear choice for paramilitary parties which wish to participate. Together, this framework provides a simple and flexible set of procedures for the talks. The British and Irish governments, together - with their respective teams of officials, are to be congratulated for the hard work they have put into bringing the peace process to this point. Given the political will, this package has the potential to lead directly to substantive talks that could reach a settlement.
It would be foolish, nevertheless, to underestimate the real hurdles represented by restoration of the IRA ceasefire and finding the political will among unionist parties to talk in earnest. But the governments have a strong case to make that the opportunity is now there to make political progress. From the republican point of view there is an automatic route from restoration of the ceasefire to a seat at the negotiating table; although this comes through what they regard as an unnecessary electoral process, this is not an insuperable obstacle compared to the prize of talks which they have consistently championed. They along with the SDLP, may even come to re evaluate a political forum which cannot realistically be portrayed as a return to Stormont. The renunciation of violence is fundamental and irreducible.
As for the unionist parties, they now have to decide whether they are really serious about participating in talks with the aim of reaching a settlement, or whether they will approach them in a negative, blocking spirit. There is little enough in the formal procedures laid down yesterday to enable them to adopt a wrecking approach; but accumulated skills in political prevarication, combined with the parliamentary arithmetic in the House of Commons, could be sufficient to block progress.
Given his exceedingly precarious majority, Mr Major has precious little room for manoeuvre in coming months; but he too sees a political prize in progress towards a settlement, for which he has perhaps been given insufficient credit. The next few weeks will tell whether the package can be made to cork. All eyes will be on the republican movement, as its political and military wings examine these documents and the negotiations that have produced them. Recent guarded indications that they are willing to do so with an open mind are a hopeful sign, which are justified by the documents published yesterday.