Yesterday was another significant day in the new political life of Northern Ireland. And it is one for which the people of these islands as a whole will give thanks.
That the political leaders directly involved declared it so might incline some to switch off, content that the Northern Ireland question is already settled. However, in his historic address to both Houses of the British Parliament in May, Bertie Ahern rightly warned that protecting and securing the new settlement there would require continuing attention, priority and commitment.
In that context alone Gordon Brown's first official visit to Belfast is to be warmly welcomed. Nor is it unimportant if DUP sensitivities helped focus Mr Brown on the importance of his attendance at the first meeting of the British Irish Council (BIC) ever held in Northern Ireland. Today, Armagh will host the equally welcome resumption of the North South Ministerial Council, so long suspended and now given new life by the power-sharing agreement of the Rev Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams.
Parity of esteem and genuine co-operation requires sensitivity to the needs of the other side. In this context too there was a striking maturity about Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness's equal enthusiasm for yesterday's proceedings. As our London Editor observes in today's newspaper, the BIC was originally seen in nationalist circles as a sop to unionist opinion, something with which to cover their embarrassment as the North South, cross-Border dimension proved the more important and dynamic.
It is unquestionably the case that the Government and the majority of people in the Republic invest great hopes in the promised new era of North South co-operation. However a quick glance at yesterday's communique confirms the growing number of issues of common interest and concern throughout these islands - of which transport, the misuse of drugs, the environment, health, tourism, the knowledge economy, indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages, social inclusion and demography are merely illustrative.
It is intriguing, too, that with Mr Ahern almost the only constant at this point, a changing cast of characters at the top is already opening up possibilities that could barely have been dreamt of when the Belfast Agreement was signed nine years ago. Who would have imagined that the interplay between a nationalist administration in Scotland and Gordon Brown's new Labour government, with its "Britishness" agenda, would provide the DUP with such an opportunity to recast the net of co-operation? Or that the relationship between Dr Paisley and Alex Salmond might encourage nationalists and republicans to rethink their focus?
Securing the agreement required people to abandon old habits and certainties and to think outside the box. Making the agreement work may require us all to do so again. Northern Ireland certainly does not require conflict to make its politics interesting.