The Northern Ireland Secretary has made a determined attempt to reach out to the anti-agreement forces in unionism and draw them into the peace process. However, Dr Reid also made clear on a visit to Dublin last night that he had no intention of bringing forward the date of Assembly elections to appease right-wing unionists.
He told an audience of academics and diplomats at University College Dublin that he had chosen his Dublin visit as the occasion to make his appeal to what he described as the "deeply sceptical" wing of unionism.
"We have to convince even sceptical unionists that it is in their own self-interest to participate in this process", he said in a lecture titled "The British Government and the Peace Process", given under the auspices of the Institute for British-Irish Studies and the Conference of University Rectors in Ireland.
However, he made clear that despite attempts by anti-agreement unionists to force early Assembly elections, he was not planning to change the date. He said that, although there seemed to be ambiguity in some quarters, "I propose that the elections be on May 1st, 2003".
He reminded his mainly Southern audience that unionism could not be taken for granted: "We cannot ignore the sincerely-held views of the deeply sceptical wing of unionism. It is a lot to ask, to set aside decades of mistrust, fuelled by terrible violence on both sides of the community."
But he highlighted what he saw as the self-defeating nature of anti-agreement politics. What he called the "No brigade", however sincere, were "only undermining the long-term interests of unionism". Even sceptics had to engage in the project in order to influence it; even those who opposed the administration were governed by it.
Commenting on recent developments, he said Northern Ireland was a "lesson in the art of the possible". In spite of enormous achievements, "the settlement is still very much work in progress". He praised the Alliance Party and the Women's Coalition for redesignating to elect Mr David Trimble as First Minister: "They might just have saved the Good Friday agreement." Referring to the brawling at Stormont after the Assembly vote, he quipped that, by the standards of his home town of Glasgow, it was little more than "a heckle".
But he added that "those pretty ugly scenes" made him think that the real divide in Northern Ireland politics was between those who wished to serve the people and those, whether unionist or republican, who wished to undermine progress.
Earlier yesterday, the Northern Secretary met the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, and the Labour leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn. He also had a brief meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen. The Minister's spokesman said the two men discussed "all current issues".
Mr Noonan and Mr Quinn also raised the situation of the Holy Cross School in Ardoyne and asked Dr Reid to redouble his efforts to find a resolution to the difficulties.
Both Mr Noonan and Mr Quinn raised the issue of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the delays by the British authorities in providing information requested by the Barron Inquiry.
Mr Quinn said the trauma of those who lost relatives or suffered serious injury in these outrages had been significantly compounded by the failure to bring anyone to justice.