A Warm Reception for the Northern Ireland Peace Deal
Polls indicate that more than 70 percent of voters support the Northern Ireland peace agreement,
which must be approved in a May 22 referendum. The campaign, however, has just
begun, and will clearly be nasty in the North. Peter Robinson, deputy leader of Ian
Paisley's Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, called the agreement "the mother of all
treachery." He also told TIME that should President Clinton visit the province to
encourage support for the agreement, as has been proposed, "we will not give him a free hand to
go around and do whatever he wants. He will be subject to the cut and thrust of the hustings of
Northern Ireland political campaigns." Paisley's party is well known for its gangs of bullyboys
who play rough during elections. Could Robinson be threatening disruptions? "One thing we will
not do is give prior warning of our intentions," he replied. The White House says there has been
no decision, but that Paisley's opposition will be "irrelevant" to what Clinton does. On the Catholic
side, Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, has been holding a frantic series of meetings with
the people who, as Adams says, "made the struggle, made the sacrifices and made the big
commitment" -- in short, the I.R.A. So far, he is getting a mixed reaction, but he is confident that
he will ultimately bring them along.