Views from the heartlands:Twelve-week-old Saerlaith Naimh gurgled happily in her pram outside Asda on the Falls Road yesterday, oblivious to events taking place at Stormont.
Dad Michael (33) had watched the first session of Northern Ireland's new Assembly on television that morning and found it hilarious. "Seeing everybody being so nice, it was very funny. It was great as well but it was crazy watching Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley all sitting around and being nice to each other," he said.
"It's about time," said mum Lisa Nellins (24). "It's just a pity so many people had to die for this to happen and loads of families had to be hurt. It's good for our kids, for her," she added, nodding at her new baby.
For most of the shoppers on the Falls Road events at the "big house" on the other side of their city took too long. "About time," echoed Leonard McGrogan, a part-time builder and father of one. "It's 30 years too late - that's a lot of wasted time and a lot of wasted lives."
A 42-year-old mother of two says: "My father was killed the day before my seventh birthday." Despite this she is pleased for her two teenage daughters: "They have so much to look forward to."
Through the peace barriers, on the loyalist Shankill Road, Richard (80) points out that the new Assembly has to be better than "all those bombings". "I've seen too much killing. Let's give it a try."
Andrea Smith (33), mother of 16-year-old twin boys, says: "This that's happening up in Stormont - it's about my kids not having to live with that constant anxiety."