Word: stormont
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...week began on a note of wistful hope. Northern Ireland's 78-member Constitutional Convention was scheduled to resume formal talks at Belfast's Stormont Parliament building after a summer of private discussions. To optimistic observers, it appeared that Ulster's Protestant and Roman Catholic politicians might be on the verge of some pragmatic settlement. Even the continued tide of sectarian terror, which extended to England in a wave of recent bombings (TIME, Sept. 15), did not dim the hope. The very savagery of the killings, so the reasoning went, would pressure the politicians to reach agreement...
When William Craig, 49, was Minister of Home Affairs in the defunct Unionist government at Stormont in 1968, he ordered the Royal Ulster Constabulary to halt the first civil rights march by Roman Catholics through Londonderry. That decision contributed to the five years of violence that soon followed. It also launched "King Billy" Craig, now head of the Vanguard Unionist Party, on an unrelenting war on behalf of Northern Ireland's Protestants. Throughout "the troubles," his line has had a one-track consistency: Ulster, he believes, faces a takeover by the Catholic-dominated Republic of Ireland and this...
Whitelaw once summed up his personal and political style by admitting: "I rather like to be liked." When he first arrived in Ulster, he threw open the doors of his office in Stormont Castle to politicians and community delegations. "I know you expect me to fail," he candidly told a small group of skeptical journalists. "All I can say is that I will do my best not to." Once, when a delegation from the Protestant paramilitary Ulster Defense Association appeared, ominously clad in dark glasses and combat uniforms, Whitelaw casually offered them afternoon tea. He scandalized Protestants by flying members...
...bluff and amiable Whitelaw, 55, had closeted himself at Stormont Castle for the past six weeks for long sessions with party leaders, drawing on the considerable store of personal good will he has earned in Ulster in order to achieve an understanding. The agreement was finally sealed in a late evening bargaining session, though in usual Ulster fashion the pact momentarily tottered at the brink of angry dissolution...
...system (which requires voters to list their preferences for all candidates), even minor groups have a chance of picking up seats. But Faulkner's Unionists should win the most, and the Catholic S.D.L.P. should capture a fair share. Though relations between these two traditional parties were bad at Stormont, there is some hope that they could work together better in the assembly. Says S.D.L.P. Leader Gerry Fitt: "We are willing to take part in any administration which will bring the violence...