Whether or not you’re Irish…

…this is big news. It’s a study of the peace process between two historically hostile political, religious and/or geographical enemies. The Irish and the British have been all three. The turnaround came when Gerry Adams and the Sinn Fein party came to the table as a political effort to negotiate for peace in Northern Ireland. They’re trying to do this right, but the British holding the power there haven’t wanted to trust them much.

Adams and Sinn Fein keep coming back to the table, and now there’s another breakthrough. Or so it seems.

Moves by Sinn Féin leaders to urge their members to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland were tonight hailed as potentially historic on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Downing Street, Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and other political leaders, including the Democratic Unionists’ deputy leader, Peter Robinson, welcomed a decision by the Sinn Féin national executive to hold a special party conference next month to consider supporting the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The Democratic Unionists (DUP) are the guys loyal to British rule there, and party chief, Ian Paisley, has nearly always been the most untrusting and uncompromising leader at the table — when he stays at the table.

This news is actually a huge leap for Sinn Fein, the ‘nationalists.’

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams revealed after a six-hour marathon meeting in Dublin of his party executive that a motion would be put to his rank and file members urging them to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland and its counterpart in the Irish Republic, An Garda and Siochana.

The motion will also urge members to support calls for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont and consider Sinn Féin representatives joining the Northern Ireland Policing Board and local District Policing Partnerships.

Officials in London and Dublin were also heartened that the motion would call for a commitment to actively encourage everyone in the community to co-operate fully with the police services on both sides of the border in tackling crime in all areas and actively supporting all the criminal justice institutions.

This is vital. My family was there a few summers ago, on “The Twelfth” (the dreaded July 12th commemoration of the Protestant victory over the Irish Catholics at the Battle of Aughrim in the 17th century). We wound up, through a fluke, in the towns of the notorious Orange Parade marches that provoke clashes between Protestant Orangemen and Irish Catholics — to this day — in Northern Ireland. There’s still a lot of tension.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern identified at the talks that Sinn Féin support for policing as being the key to persuading the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists to enter into a power-sharing government next March.

If, indeed, anything can persuade Paisley. He and his party were the only ones who opposed the Good Friday Agreement for peace between the two sides.

Mr Ahern welcomed the Sinn Féin executive’s decision….

There were also positive soundings from the DUP’s deputy leader, Peter Robinson, who said it would be churlish not to acknowledge its historic potential.

However, his party went on to sound churlish, no doubt echoing Ian Paisley’s trademark…churlishness toward “republicans” – those who support Sinn Fein.

The east Belfast MP, however, reminded republicans: “Unionists will want firstly to examine the text of any resolution and, in particular, check whether any conditionality exists.

“Unionists will secondly want to be sure that no price has been paid for this move to the detriment of the unionist community.

“Thirdly, unionists will not be prepared to rely on words alone, but will want to see meaningful delivery on the ground.”

Some senior figures in the DUP tonight were sceptical that Sinn Féin could do enough to persuade them to share power within the deadline set by Mr Blair and Mr Ahern for devolution on March 26.

Talk about discouragement. Look at all those qualifiers. Hmm…..maybe they don’t want to share power. It sure sounds that way.

The party’s chairman, Lord Morrow, South Antrim MP the Rev William McCrea, and MEP Jim Allister all cast doubt on whether the March 26 deadline was an adequate testing period to establish whether Sinn Féin’s policing credentials were for real.

Now there’s an attitude of reconciliation and goodwill, eh?

Mr McCrea and Mr Allister also insisted that, before their party signed up to power sharing, the British government would also have to address unionist confidence building measures, including a mechanism for expelling Sinn Féin from government in the event of the party acting in bad faith.

The credit goes to Gerry Adams for facing this kind of cynicism and regular defeat of his efforts, and carrying the ball forward in a strategic drive long enough to reach the goal. And that’s peace and power sharing.

There’s more than one Fighting Irish team out there with a smart quarterback.