Northern Ireland Politics

Frank Durkan, 76, a lawyer and activist who defended Irish Americans entangled with the law because of their involvement in the politics of Northern Ireland, died Thursday at a hospital in Greenwich, Conn., after suffering from lung failure, his daughter Mary Louise Martin said. Known as a fierce defender, Durkan counted among his most famous clients a man named George Harrison, who for many years was the main gunrunner of the Irish Republican Army in the United States.

David Ervine, a onetime Protestant militant who became one of Northern Ireland's most articulate and forward-thinking politicians, died Monday after suffering a heart attack, according to colleagues and a Belfast hospital. He was 53. Ervine, who was imprisoned for six years in the 1970s for his activities in the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force, was the leading figure in the UVF's legal Progressive Unionist Party.

As usual, Mairtin O Muilleoir was struggling to make a point. "Lord Mayor! Lord Mayor!" he shouted into his hand-held microphone. Over and over, delivered as though to an impertinent pup, came the cold reply: "Sit down , you." When the Roman Catholic city councilor finally gave up and flopped exasperated onto his padded bench, from across the chamber divide his Protestant peers enjoyed a good, hearty laugh. Such is the polarized state of democracy, Ulster-style.

Frank Durkan, 76, a lawyer and activist who defended Irish Americans entangled with the law because of their involvement in the politics of Northern Ireland, died Thursday at a hospital in Greenwich, Conn., after suffering from lung failure, his daughter Mary Louise Martin said. Known as a fierce defender, Durkan counted among his most famous clients a man named George Harrison, who for many years was the main gunrunner of the Irish Republican Army in the United States.

Harold McCusker, 50, a schoolteacher who became prominent in Northern Ireland politics. He was a member of the British Parliament for 16 years, representing the Official Unionists, the mainstream Protestant party in Northern Ireland. He was party deputy leader from 1982. McCusker was an eloquent speaker and campaigner for tougher measures against the Irish Republican Army, which is fighting to rid Northern Ireland of British rule.

David Ervine, a onetime Protestant militant who became one of Northern Ireland's most articulate and forward-thinking politicians, died Monday after suffering a heart attack, according to colleagues and a Belfast hospital. He was 53. Ervine, who was imprisoned for six years in the 1970s for his activities in the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force, was the leading figure in the UVF's legal Progressive Unionist Party.

The Irish Republican Army did the right thing when it moved to consolidate the peace process in Northern Ireland by putting some of its arsenal verifiably and permanently beyond use. It was a bold gesture, even if made in the context of increasing political and moral pressure in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The clearest sign of how wrong things had gone in Northern Ireland on Thursday was not Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble's boycott of a new power-sharing government. It was not British Prime Minister Tony Blair's acknowledgment that his plan to break a yearlong deadlock between the province's Protestant unionists and Roman Catholic nationalists had failed.

Northern Ireland's Protestants have given the Rev. Ian Paisley and his hard-line Democratic Unionist Party the majority of their votes in elections for the province's Assembly, partial returns showed Thursday, signaling that they were prepared to risk the collapse of the Good Friday peace accord rather than make more concessions to keep it alive.

In a stunning bid to rescue the Northern Ireland peace process, the Irish Republican Army vowed Saturday to put its weapons "completely and verifiably" out of commission and to allow regular independent inspections of its arms depots. The IRA statement followed an offer by the British and Irish governments to reconvene the province's suspended power-sharing government May 22 in exchange for a clear statement from the paramilitary group renouncing violence.

Northern Ireland's Protestants have given the Rev. Ian Paisley and his hard-line Democratic Unionist Party the majority of their votes in elections for the province's Assembly, partial returns showed Thursday, signaling that they were prepared to risk the collapse of the Good Friday peace accord rather than make more concessions to keep it alive.

Northern Ireland politics, with its fussy codes and tribal grievances, is just the sort of dizzying foreign entanglement George Bush vowed to steer away from when he became president. To the Bush White House, the province's Good Friday peace agreement was Bill Clinton's signature issue, perfectly suited to a politician happiest conducting diplomacy by group hug.

Protestant hard-liners lost a legal effort Friday to topple the leaders of Northern Ireland's unity government. In Belfast High Court, Justice Brian Kerr ruled that the Nov. 6 election of First Minister David Trimble and Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan was valid, even though it happened after a six-week deadline for the posts to be filled.

A week after the Irish Republican Army's groundbreaking move to give up guns, Northern Ireland's peace process was under threat again Friday when moderate unionist David Trimble failed to win reelection as leader of the British province's power-sharing government. Although 70% of Northern Ireland Assembly members backed Trimble, the Ulster Unionist Party chief didn't secure a majority of the votes cast by his fellow Protestants.

The Irish Republican Army did the right thing when it moved to consolidate the peace process in Northern Ireland by putting some of its arsenal verifiably and permanently beyond use. It was a bold gesture, even if made in the context of increasing political and moral pressure in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The leader of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government, David Trimble, was reelected as chief of his divided Ulster Unionist Party on Saturday on the strength of his demand for immediate Irish Republican Army disarmament.

Prison time has rarely been a liability in Northern Ireland politics, but the fact that 20 or so ex-cons are candidates in today's election for a new government here has raised some hackles and reopened old wounds. To many supporters of the Good Friday peace accord, the campaigns of former Irish Republican Army commanders and Protestant gunmen convicted of murder are a sign of the agreement's success: These militants are being drawn away from violence and into a democratic political system.

Northern Ireland politics, with its fussy codes and tribal grievances, is just the sort of dizzying foreign entanglement George Bush vowed to steer away from when he became president. To the Bush White House, the province's Good Friday peace agreement was Bill Clinton's signature issue, perfectly suited to a politician happiest conducting diplomacy by group hug.

The Northern Ireland peace process was thrown into turmoil Tuesday when First Minister David Trimble announced that he will resign as leader of the province's power-sharing government July 1 unless the Irish Republican Army disposes of its arsenal by then.

David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists, Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant party, narrowly won a crucial party battle, keeping alive the province's power-sharing government. Angry that the Irish Republican Army has not begun disarming, Ulster Unionist hard-liners had put forward a motion calling for the party to withdraw from the government, collapsing it, if the IRA doesn't make a disarmament move by Nov. 30.