Sombre air as North-South body meets

This was never going to match the sense of occasion last December when the Irish Government swept into Armagh in the biggest fleet of black cars seen anywhere since Vito Corleone's funeral.

But the second plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council did have some of the atmosphere of a Mafia interment ceremony. There was the sombre air of the participants; the meaningful handshakes; the quiet expressions of respect to the bereaved (David Trimble had lost a by-election rather than a family member, but it was enough); and there was also the unmistakable sense of business being done.

Ten months on from its establishment, the council could reflect on considerable progress in cross-Border co-operation and, according to the post-meeting communique, it looked forward to much more. Mr Trimble even hoped the work would soon be so routine as to be "boring".

Ploughing through the briefing notes yesterday, many observers felt his goal had already been achieved. But it was the continued refusal of unionist voters to be bored by the workings of the Belfast Agreement that dominated everyone's thoughts at Dublin Castle, and last week's result in South Antrim clung to the Ulster Unionist Party leader like a black armband.

With a stormy party conference to face early next month, Trimble supporters fear a final showdown with anti-agreement forces is not far off. This may have explained Mr Trimble's mood as he arrived for the meeting. Asked by a chirpy reporter "how's the form?" he reacted as if he'd had paint thrown at him, before retorting with a stiff "good morning".

That was more than he had to say to his Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, with whom he exchanged neither look nor greeting as they alighted from their cars. The chemistry between the two men is reportedly not good these days and appearances at Dublin Castle confirmed the worst.

But while reporters rephrased their questions for fear of sparking a chemical reaction, Martin McGuinness stirred the mix further by suggesting, apropos Mr Trimble's difficulties, that the Belfast Agreement was bigger than any individual.

At least the Taoiseach was sorry for his troubles. Everyone in politics had "predicaments", Mr Ahern said; in his own political career, he'd had plenty. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, the Taoiseach might have added, and with the Flood tribunal continuing at the other end of Castle Yard, Mr Trimble must have known he meant it.