New to the EU

Jim Dougal, former political correspondent with the BBC in Northern Ireland, has been appointed head of the European Commission office in Belfast. The job is for five years and he replaces Jane Morris, who failed to win a seat in the elections to the NI Forum, and has joined the Women's Coalition. Nothing unusual about any of that, one might say, even if he did beat off a reported 40 candidates. The thing is, however, that Dougal is a Catholic and the first such to hold a job which requires the tacit approval of the three Northern MEPs. Does the fact that Ian Paisley passed him mean there is hope after all?