With upcoming elections, Arlene Foster has to hit ground running

Arlene Foster's career has moved in quite an upward trajectory considering that, shortly after the 1998 Belfast Agreement, she herself considered that any political ambitions she may have entertained had turned to dust.

As the first woman and the youngest person to hold the premier political post in Northern Ireland's 95-year history, her challenge now is to get Northern Ireland moving in the same direction.

In 1998, Foster was in the Ulster Unionist Party and her opposition to both David Trimble and the failure to achieve IRA decommissioning in the Good Friday agreement left her very much a marginal and disaffected party member.

Six years later, though, she jumped ship to the DUP and with the support of Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson it was onwards and upwards. Twice, she stood in for Robinson as acting First Minister while also heading three key departments – finance, industry and environment.

Little wonder, therefore, that she marvelled at being elected First Minister: "As a young girl growing up in rural Fermanagh, the most westerly constituency in the whole of the United Kingdom, in the days when we were plagued by terrorism and decisions affecting our fates and our futures were taken far away, I could not have dreamt that I would be in this position today."

DUP Assembly members appear delighted with her elevation. There is admiration for Robinson, but also a feeling that he was carrying baggage that could threaten the DUP’s ambition of remaining as the biggest party after the May Assembly elections. Foster doesn’t carry such a negative load.

Restore faith

The election will be her big test. With Martin McGuinness she must also work to restore public faith in Stormont, which was severely dented by recent years of dysfunctionality and bickering. She must also beef up the economy. Her experience in senior departments gives her a headstart here.

Another challenge will be maintaining party discipline. But again Foster has demonstrated that she will be no soft touch, although there may be some DUP MPs and MLAs who feel that now that Robinson is away they can be let off the leash a bit.

The issue of same-sex marriage will keep coming up, with Foster saying that she would hold to the party's position of opposition to such social change. Equally, she indicated that the DUP would maintain its opposition to abortion, while considering the recent High Court ruling that abortion should be permitted in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest.

Primarily, in terms of tackling sectarianism and proving that Northern Ireland is not a failed state, Foster must prove that Stormont can function properly. She must help shepherd in developments and projects that bring the two communities closer together.

She was rather inept in baldly refusing to attend any of the Easter Rising commemorations in the Republic this year. Within nationalism and among some people in the South, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, that was viewed as disappointing and lacking generosity.

Deft retreat

However, Foster in an interview with

The Irish Times

yesterday evening showed deftness by retreating somewhat from that position. She held to her line that she would not attend commemoration events, but said she was open to going to Dublin or wherever to discuss the historical significance of 1916.

Her mother, Georgina, from Roslea in Co Fermanagh, was in the Assembly gallery for her formal election. She regretted, however, that her father, Johnny Kelly, was not alive to see her reach the pinnacle of Northern Ireland politics.

As is generally known, her RUC father was wounded in an IRA gun attack when she was a young child, while as a teenager she survived an IRA bomb attack on her school bus being driven by a part-time UDR soldier.

Martin McGuinness, in congratulating her, acknowledged the "hurt endured" by the Kelly family, which was a welcome touch. Foster, in turn, later recognised McGuinness's comment, saying, "I think it was a pleasant surprise that he did that".

It all reflected the generally warm and good-hearted nature of business yesterday as Peter Robinson bowed out and Foster took charge.

And judging by the generous mood yesterday it seems that Foster will be allowed a honeymoon period to settle into her job.

But with Assembly elections coming in May, that grace won’t be for long.