Breakthrough in Northern Ireland.

Breakthrough In Northern Ireland

THERE ARE complexities and then there are complexities. The arcane complexities of arms-control theology sermonized upon by Messrs. Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva plae into elementary triviality by comparison with the political and religious complexities that divide Catholic and Protestant in Northern Ireland. The tortuous road to the superpower Summit in Geneva was a daisy-lined country thoroughfare compared to the 18 months of negotiations that culminated in the mid-November signing in Hillsborough, County Down, of a British-Irish agreement on cooperation in Northern Ireland. And since terrorism in Northern Ireland has claimed thousands of lives since the end of World War II, while nuclear weapons have claimed none at all, the agreement arguably may save more lives than anything that took place in Geneva.

The agreement gives Dublin a formal advisory role in setting policy for the six counties of Northern Ireland. Great Britain will retain full political control and sovereignty there unless and until the citizens of Northern Ireland vote otherwise. But a joint Anglo-Irish intergovernmental conference, consisting of ministers and parliamentarians from both countries, will meet regularly and make non-binding recommendations on policy issues affecting Northern Ireland. If it is ratified by the parliaments of both countries, the agreement has tremendous potential to diffuse tension and pave the way for a victory over the terrorists.

Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald have both staked their political fortunes on the success of the agreement, FitzGerald even more than Mrs. Thatcher. At least one British cabinet member has resigned over the issue, and 18 British parliamentarians are threatening to do so. But Mr. FitzGerald is bucking two centuries of Irish tradition that has supported an independent, united Ireland as a concrete political objective, rather than a mere aspiration. The agreement in effect means that the Republic of Ireland agrees that a final union with the North is only an aspiration, something that will take place as the culmination of a gradual process and in accordance with the will of the local populace in the North (60 per cent of whom say they want to remain British).

FitzGerald and Mrs. Thatcher deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for thier political courage and imagination in the face of centuries of strife. Now it is up to both sides in Northern Ireland to behave wholly out of character and give the agreement a chance to work.