Northern Ireland
After decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 led to a form of autonomous Government called the Northern Ireland AssemblyThere’s the unions fronted by 80year old Reverend Ian Paisley and his Democratic Unionist Party and there’s the nationalist group Sinn Fein led by Gerry Adams. The Assembly was suspended in mid-2002 following suspected activities with the IRA. Now, in emergency legislation set up by the UK government, the Assembly has been recalled to make way for a new power sharing executive to be put in place by November this year. The nationalists have offered to join together with the Unionists, but Reverend Ian Paisley is not having a bar of it. Aimon McCann, is a long time political activist in Northern Ireland and he explains what would happen if the assembly didn’t come together in the end.