The North's First and Deputy First Ministers have predicted public confidence in the Belfast Agreement will grow between now and the next Assembly elections, despite their election difficulties and the unruly scenes at Stormont yesterday.
Mr David Trimble and Mr Mark Durkan tried to elevate the public focus above the Stormont disorder yesterday by pledging last night they would work together to ensure progressive and inclusive government for all of the people of Northern Ireland, including those opposed to the Belfast Agreement.
They made their commitment as the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, announced that the next Assembly elections would be in May 2003.
Mr Trimble conceded that elements of unionism were disillusioned with the political process.
"We have to address those concerns so that when we come, as we will in 18 months' time, to the major electoral test, we will be in a position to say 'This is working'," he said in London yesterday evening.
Mr Durkan said he wanted to include those in the process who were anti-agreement.
"That's how it should be because these inclusive arrangements aren't just inclusive of people who are pro-agreement," he added.
Earlier Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan were elected as Northern Ireland's First and Deputy First Ministers amid ugly scenes at Stormont in which a number of Assembly members were kicked, pushed, jostled and manhandled.
The election opened the way for the full restoration of the institutions of the Belfast Agreement, including its North-South dimension.
Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan were elected to the two posts with the assistance of votes from Alliance and Women's Coalition members who redesignated themselves as "unionist".
In the chamber, furious DUP Assembly members cried "traitor" and "cheater" as Mr Trimble took his oath of office.
As Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan addressed the media in the hall shortly afterwards, some anti-agreement unionists and their supporters kept up the barracking. It was at this stage that the scuffles broke out.
The DUP and pro-agreement MLAs blamed each other for the disturbances.
Ulster Unionist MLA Ms Joan Carson accused DUP people of pushing her to the ground. The DUP's Mr Roger Hutchinson claimed that a Sinn FΘin MLA kicked and gashed his leg. Dr Alastair McDonnell of the SDLP said he was kicked and pushed. Mr John Kelly of Sinn FΘin said that some DUP members and their supporters attacked Sinn FΘin MLAs.
Members of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland were called to assist security staff, who had difficulty keeping the disputing members apart. The police took statements from members in an attempt to determine who was chiefly culpable for the trouble.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, accused some Sinn FΘin and SDLP Assembly members of causing the trouble while the SDLP, Ulster Unionists, Sinn FΘin and the other Yes parties cited the DUP as the main culprits.
Mr Trimble said he and Mr Durkan would "not allow ourselves to be distracted by the sort of mob violence some parties descend to".
Meanwhile, the DUP is to take further legal action to try to force the revocation of yesterday's election.
A spokesman for Dr Reid said the Northern Secretary was confident he was acting within the law.
Dr Reid also announced a review into the voting procedures in the assembly, which is part of the price Alliance demanded for redesignating three of its MLAs as unionists.
Dr Paisley last night rejected a call from Mr Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party for the DUP's two ministers to remove themselves from the Executive.
