BELFAST BRIEFING:THE NORTH'S business community will be quietly watching in the wings this week and keeping their fingers crossed as yet another seismic change takes place on the political front.
Dr Ian Paisley will step down this Thursday as First Minister and is widely expected to be replaced by the new leader of the DUP and the current Finance Minister, Peter Robinson, who began his working life as an estate agent.
The business community is well-acquainted with Mr Robinson. He is the man who unveiled the Executive's first business-friendly budget while pledging to put the building blocks in place to grow a strong economy and reduce government costs. The approach was music to the ears of most business people. They may not warm to his style of politics but they appreciate his pro-business sentiment.
He appears to understand the struggles they have had to overcome to remain in business today. In a speech last year, he referred to the legacy of lost economic opportunity caused by more than 30 years of violence and political instability.He has repeatedly stressed that the key to transforming the economy is to attract new inward investment while "facilitating the private sector to become more outward-looking, more innovative and more productive".
He told Northern Ireland members of the Confederation of British Industry that when it came to the economy, he did not believe that people must accept things as they stood. "I refuse to accept that they will never change," he said.
It was a powerful message and one that did inspire hope. Here was a locally-elected Finance Minister who was determined to make things better.
If he does succeed Dr Paisley on Thursday, he will be in a position to live up to the promises he made to the business community while Finance Minister.
But true to form in Northern Ireland, this may not be as simple as it might appear.
If for some reason Sinn Féin chooses not to nominate Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister, then there would be a new political crisis.
Mr Robinson has dismissed any such notion, but if such a situation arose it would be the last thing needed at this time. Business is difficult enough in the current slowdown without having to contend with any fresh political uncertainty. Ask any business leader what they want from the Northern Ireland Executive and it is simple enough: "Do your job and let us get on with doing ours."
There is a real hunger to create a better economic future. There has been a cross-party desire to try and deliver the much-promised peace dividend for everyone - nationalist, unionist, those in between and those who simply don't care. But now the threat of politicians returning to their old bitter ways looms and it is causing ripples of unease in boardrooms and economic agencies.
No one in Northern Ireland can afford a political crisis at this time.
The big question now is how far will politicians go to create prosperity for everyone who lives and works in the North? Will they put their personalities, political differences and historical loyalties aside for the greater good?
As Peter Robinson would tell you, in the end it all comes down to location, location, location. This week there is only one place that counts when it comes to the North's economic future - and that is Stormont.
