Today's face-to-face meeting between Northern Ireland's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, represents yet another important signal of progress as the political parties move towards the implementation of the Belfast Agreement and the creation of a normal democratic society. The bilateral meeting is not expected, of itself, to generate any dramatic breakthrough. But the very fact that it is taking place represents a sea change in attitudes that, hitherto, have frozen Northern Ireland politics. The breaking of the political ice is as important for nationalists as for unionists.
Both Mr Trimble and Mr Adams will have been heartened by their experiences at last Monday's multiparty meeting at Stormont which considered the future of the North's new power-sharing executive and was conducted in a workmanlike atmosphere, without recriminations. As a result, it is not anticipated that the establishment of North/South bodies will cause particular problems within the Assembly later this year.
However, the issues of decommissioning and the formation of a shadow executive have the potential to create difficulties. Mr Adams and Sinn Fein are insistent they should be allowed to take their ministerial seats immediately and in advance of any decommissioning. Mr Trimble and the Ulster Unionist Party disagree; they seek prior decommissioning and suggest that the shadow executive does not have to be established until December - at the earliest. There is a standoff in the making. But there is also scope for progress on the creation of government structures and agreement on administrative budgets. The implementation of elements of the Belfast Agreement dealing with human rights, prisoners, policing, and parity of esteem could also serve to create a more helpful climate in the medium term. And if General De Chastelaine was to produce a positive report on IRA decommissioning towards the end of the year, it could create the platform from which a shadow executive could be formed. The ending of punishment beatings by all paramilitary groups is essential, however.
Recent developments within the nationalist community have been encouraging: the ending of military campaigns by the INLA and the self-styled Real IRA; the hope by Mr Adams that violence was "now a thing of the past, over, done with and gone"; and the appointment of Mr Martin McGuinness to liaise with General de Chastelain on arms decommissioning.
However, while Mr Trimble's brave and creative gesture in meeting Sinn Fein is to be applauded, the behaviour of certain elements within the unionist community is a source of concern. For weeks now, the streets of Portadown have witnessed increasingly loutish and criminal behaviour. Loyalist and republican youths have taunted each other and fought running battles. Last weekend, two RUC officers were injured, one critically, by blast bombs thrown by loyalist elements. The situation has caused representatives of the four main churches in Portadown to call for a resumption of negotiations between Portadown Orangemen and the residents of the Garvaghy Road. The situation has the potential to become deeply destabilising. Dialogue, as should be clear to all sections of Northern society by now, offers the only constructive way forward.