The North's political process staggered forward yesterday after an extraordinary day at Stormont in which loyalist killer Michael Stone attempted to launch a gun and bomb attack at Parliament Buildings as politicians were gathered in the Assembly chamber.
Against the turmoil of Stone's attack and signs of internal divisions within the Democratic Unionist Party, the Taoiseach and British prime minister judged that DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley had provided the necessary assurances that he is prepared to be first minister on March 26th next year, the scheduled date for restoring devolution.
Armed with between six and eight explosive devices, a handgun and a knife, Stone attempted to launch a one-man attack at Parliament Buildings reminiscent of his assault on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in 1988 which left three men dead and dozens injured.
A female security guard wrested the gun from him at the revolving doors of Parliament Buildings while a male colleague pinned the right arm of the multiple killer against the doors. After a struggle Stone was finally subdued, arrested and taken into custody.
On licensed release since 2000 under the Belfast Agreement, he is now due to be sent back to prison to serve the rest of a 30-year sentence, as well as facing charges relating to yesterday's attack. Whether his chief targets were Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, as they were in 1988, or the MLAs generally, remains unclear.
In the Assembly Dr Paisley refused to be nominated as first minister-designate until Sinn Féin had declared its support for the PSNI. This was notwithstanding a warning by Northern Secretary Peter Hain that if he did not indicate his conditional willingness to be first minister on March 26th, Mr Hain would shut down Stormont.
In his Assembly statement, however, Dr Paisley said that "throughout the DUP consultation we stated if and when commitments are delivered [by Sinn Féin] the DUP will enter government".
In a subsequent statement to the Press Association, Dr Paisley said that if Sinn Féin delivered on policing and all outstanding issues he "would accept the first minister's nomination provided the election results are favourable".
While there was no formal commitment in the Assembly chamber to be first minister, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, British prime minister Tony Blair and Mr Hain took his overall comments as sufficient indication that Dr Paisley wants to be first minister, thus avoiding the collapse of the transitional Assembly and allowing politicians move to the next stage of the St Andrews Agreement - persuading Sinn Féin to sign up to policing.
However, perceived hardliners in the DUP appeared to take issue with Dr Paisley. Twelve of the DUP's 33 MLAs, including four of its nine MPs - Nigel Dodds, Rev William McCrea, Gregory Campbell and David Simpson - issued a statement rejecting the interpretation that yesterday's business in the Assembly amounted to conditional acceptance that Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness were now prospective first minister and deputy first minister.
Party members such as MP Jeffrey Donaldson denied suggestions of a rift within the DUP while one senior party source said that regardless of any statements, Dr Paisley dictated DUP policy.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams nominated Mr McGuinness as deputy first minister-designate, saying he would be a champion of "equality, fairness and justice".
Sinn Féin provided no indication yesterday about when it would call an ardfheis on the policing issue. In fact Sinn Féin MLA Francis Brolly is quoted in Swiss newspaper Le Temps yesterday as saying it might not happen until the summer.
