-alan-
pfm Member
"Eventually", probably, "soon", no. Too many agin' up north. The big problem with Sinn Féin is that they meet the classic definition of a fanatic, a person with both feet firmly planted in the air. They have simply taken a united Ireland as a self-evident given, and have never tried to persuade their Unionist counterparts of the advantages of reunification. As a result, they have a lot of work to do. They have, in effect, fouled their own nest by their intransigent, holier-than-thou behaviour.
I'm not a big fan either, but in their defence, it was quite a battle for them to get to the stage where they were eventually treated as equals - or at least a force to be reckoned with albeit begrudgingly - by the DUP. Their electoral success with the more moderate Nationalists in the North was largely due to being seen as the only ones prepared to stand up to the DUP and take them on. I do take your point though - if they want to move forward from here under the current structure, there's going to be a need for both SF and the DUP to figure out how to work together.
There is another view mind you, that the political 'Power sharing' structure in the North was a temporary fix, and the two sides are still so divided at a fundamental level that the Stormont bodies won't be able to fix it in any foreseeable future. I reckoned the longer term compromise solution would be found somewhere around allowing NI to take its place in the larger EU without being forced to choose between British or Irish rule. That's kind of buggered now again though