Giving Politics a Try

Ballots at last have a chance, how ever slim, of replacing bullets in Northern Ireland. At no time since sectarian violence erupted four years ago has a political solution to Ulster's problems seemed so possible. Though urban warfare continues in the North's divided cities, Protestant and Catholic moderates could work together peacefully as a result of last month's Assembly elections.

Nearly two-thirds of the 78 seats in the Assembly are now held by members who agree with certain reservations that the Protestant majority must share power with the Catholic minority. They include ex-Prime Minister Brian Faulkner's official Unionists with 23 seats, Gerard Fitt's predominantly Roman Catholic Social Democratic and Labor Party (S.D.L.P.) with 19 seats, the Northern Ireland Labor Party with one seat and the nonsectarian Alliance Party with eight seats. Those opposed to the kind of compromise outlined in the British White Paper issued last March landed clearly in the minority.

While militants like William Craig and his followers have vowed to undermine the Assembly, both Protestant Faulkner and Catholic Fitt seem ready to give compromise a chance. Fitt remarked that "I am not going to find it impossible to talk to anybody in the new Assembly." Faulkner, noting the election results, said, "I am absolutely convinced that it is the will of the people, and it can be done."

When the Assembly convenes later this summer at Stormont, its powers will be limited to such matters as housing and agriculture. Rather than being called "Prime Minister," the Assembly's leader will be known as the "Chief Executive," a post that is expected to fall to Faulkner, if his party forms a governing coalition with the S.D.L.P. The Assembly will remain under London's close tutelage until it shows an ability to govern without aggravating sectarian tensions.

The forces of moderation have been receiving welcome support from Liam Cosgrave, the new Prime Minister of Eire. Since its election four months ago, the Cosgrave government has tried to cool the ancient passions that have inflamed sectarian relations in all of Ireland. Last week, while visiting London, Cosgrave urged recognition of the "existing realities," thus tacitly accepting, for the time being, the North's separate status -even though the goal of ultimate unification of the country is part of Eire's constitution. Cosgrave's soothing words could help allay the fears of Ulster Protestants. They worry that Catholics are plotting for unification, which would condemn Protestants to the position of a helpless minority within an overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland. That moment is obviously still far off. The more immediate concern for Northern Ireland is to resolve its problems in the new Assembly -and not by violence in the streets, which to date has claimed 841 dead.

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