IRA says armed campaign is over

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

a good sign but probably won't mean much. The main IRA group has observed a cease-fire for quite some time, it's splinter factions that have carried out all recent acts of terrorism, and I doubt they'll observe this.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

a good sign but probably won't mean much. The main IRA group has observed a cease-fire for quite some time, it's splinter factions that have carried out all recent acts of terrorism, and I doubt they'll observe this.

Ah but the point of this isn't whether they'll stop blowing people up or not... the point of this is political; the IRA having weapons and carrying out paramilitary/criminal activities was the big thing holding back the political process and the reason why NI is currently under direct rule.
With this out of the way, things are finally back on track and we could be seeing SF ministers in a Paisley led government pretty soon.

A Paisley led government certainly isn't something I'd relish though. I don't get how anyone takes that lunatic seriously. If I lived in N. Ireland, I'd be as hardline unionist as they come, but would probably also being secretely hoping that an IRA splinter faction shuts him up for good.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Shankill, well as I'm not into abducting and torturing random civilians I most certainly would not.

Orange Order, probably not, they're a little too far out for me though I do agree with them in that I despise the Roman Catholic hegemony.

So yes, I would be an anamoly, luckily I don't live there, although my view is fairly consistent and my Unionism would be just as much because of my fear of the Republic of Ireland's extreme social conservatism as my Protestantism. And I would definately prefer any non-orthodox Catholic (about 90% of the ones in the US) to Paisley (or his US equivalents, Falwell, Robertson, etc.)