February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
No easy task and one that will draw on the man’s experience and political acumen to a degree not required in some while.
Kelly and his colleagues can take cold shoulders and hot argument in equal measure.
They have been in the game for some years now and know how to dish it out even as they are being buried in opprobrium.
But the peace process is something that exists outside the control of any one party or government.
Luckily, that means it won’t be upended by the actions of any one group, party or government.
The potentially negative flip side of this is that the process requires the honest and sustained efforts of all parties if it is not just going to survive, but ultimately thrive.
So far, nobody seems to have lost their nerve entirely in the aftermath of a bank raid that broke monetary records and shattered the prospects of an early return to devolved government.
Cold shoulders and strained encounters we can manage.
But more than ever, political nerve and a sustained will to succeed is required of the primary political participants.
It has to be hoped that sufficient political repairs can be made in the coming weeks.
And while it would be foolish to expect too much of the 2005 St. Patrick’s political season, enough of it should be salvageable to set matters on a better course for later in the year.
For now, however, we can only hope for minimal cordiality amid chilly encounters.
But that is at least better than a situation in which political leaders are content to just abuse each other from afar.