THE most heartening result from Northern Ireland yesterday was determination of 64 per cent of the electorate to support peace, negotiations and the democratic process.
In spite of persistent reports of generalised apathy and unhappiness, people from both communities turned out in large numbers to support the ballot box over the bullet.
Sinn Fein did very well. And Gerry Adams now has a mandate to go to the IRA and seek an unequivocal restoration of its ceasefire. He may be reluctant to do so until the Irish and British governments agree the structures, procedures and agenda for next week's talks. But it is Sinn Fein's only path into all party talks on the Framework Document.
Mr Adams is still hanging tough, insisting the vote his party attracted has somehow cut the umbilical cord between Sinn Fein and the IRA.
Mr Adams has devoted the last months to the rhetoric of peace he and his fellow republicans are now in a position to embrace the spirit, as well as the letter, of the Mitchell Report and to enter meaningful negotiations with unionists.
All party talks has been a core republican demand for years. That objective is now within reach, pending the abandonment by the IRA of its military campaign. Other difficulties, such as arms decommissioning and the shape and content of any political settlement are matters for negotiation and compromise, involving loyalists and republicans, unionists and nationalists.
The first step along that road, as John Bruton made clear last night, is an IRA ceasefire. If that building block is not in place, Sinn Fein will not be at the table. But the Taoiseach was upbeat, saying there were "good grounds for optimism". But compromise would be required from all parties.
A long and stony road has been travelled since last February. Back then, Dick Spring cautioned that an election in advance of all party talks would do more harm than good. Elections were about confrontation, he insisted, while negotiations were about seeking consensus.
It was a difficult time in Anglo Irish relations. John Major had shelved the Mitchell Report in favour of David Trimble's idea of an elective process. And there seemed to be no prospect of the two governments providing the promised all party talks by the end of the month. Mr Trimble was talking blithely about a two year discussion period before formal talks. And then an IRA bomb at Canary Wharf blew the whole rickety process apart.
Since then, there has been considerable political movement. The elections, required by David Trimble as a mandate to enter talks with Sinn Fein, have been held. But, against unionist wishes they will now lead directly into all party negotiations. In return, nationalists reluctantly agreed to participate in a form of elections distasteful to Mr Trimble, provided the resulting Northern Ireland Forum would be starved of relevance and the Framework Document was adopted as the template for all party talks.
Another by product of the elections is that it guarantees places at the table for representatives of militant loyalists and improves the prospects for decommissioning.
The elections have certainly polarised the communities and sharpened traditional rivalries between parties. But there have been no overwhelming political earthquakes. In spite of that, seismic activity was intense in Belfast, where Sinn Fein routed the SDLP and where the DUP eclipsed the UUP.
Apart from these localised tectonic shifts and the gains made east of the Bann by Bob McCartney's UKUP, the picture broadly reflects the outcome of the 1993 local elections. Sinn Fein gained a couple of percentage points at the expense of the SDLP the DUP crept within five points of the UUP and the UKUP carved four points from the support base of the Ulster Unionists.
Overall, the two governments will be relieved that the predicted, cataclysmic losses of David Trimble's party failed to materialise. Had the Ulster Unionists been overtaken by Ian Paisley's DUP, the room for political manoeuvre would have been greatly circumscribed.
With Dr Paisley in the driving seat and refusing to talk to Sinn Fein or to the loyalist PUP and UDP until arms decommissioning was completed, Mr Trimble would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to take the middle ground. Even as things stand, there is no certainty that he will engage generously in the talks.
In the days before the elections, the UUP leader offered many hostages to fortune. And he attempted to recast the entire shape of the three stranded negotiations, as he defended himself against DUP charges of sell out" and against the political ambitions of Mr McCartney.
His erratic behaviour caused near despair in Dublin, as officials contemplated the prospect of doing business with him.
The focus is now on June 10th. Both governments and the United States Administration hope and expect that representatives of the top 10 parties in Northern Ireland will attend the negotiations in an atmosphere of peace, with paramilitary ceasefires fully in place. They have helped to create the circumstances in which the people of Northern Ireland can reach agreement on the form of their future relationships. But they cannot compel a settlement.
The circumstances in which negotiations are due to take place are less than perfect. John Major leads a wounded government at Westminster and even his closest supporters do not expect it to survive into next year. Ulster Unionists are being advised to hold off on serious negotiations until after the expected change in government. And similar tactical thinking has surfaced within the republican movement. There, Mr Adams has threatened to show up at the talks in the absence of an IRA ceasefire.
Should republicans persevere in this approach, the two governments will have no option but to go ahead without Sinn Fein. In such circumstances it will be vital that there should be no weakening of the demand for an IRA ceasefire. Tendrils of such a shaft surfaced in the Dail during the week when Ivor Callely of Fianna Fail sought to articulate Mr Adams's line. He was quickly slapped down by Ray Burke, who said Fianna Fail policy demanded a complete IRA cessation of violence. It is only through such a united democratic front, linking Dublin, Washington, London and Derry, that Sinn Fein can be brought to the negotiating table.