Don't worry, best is yet to come for Northern Ireland

TONY BLAIR might not thank you if you described him as an Irish revolutionary, but the latest Stormont election is a reminder that the enormity of change he unleashed in Northern Ireland by turning the Good Friday Agreement into reality is nothing less than startling: This corner of an island is a setting for one of the world's great experiments in democracy.

- David Williamson

Its devolution journey has been beset with scandals and shutdowns, but also moments that can only be described as historic.

Jaws dropped in 2007 when Free Presbyterian firebrand preacher Ian Paisley took the DUP into government with Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness holding the Deputy First Minister position.

The camaraderie this unashamed Protestant fundamentalist and a once formidable IRA commander enjoyed was the stuff of legend.

The people of Northern Ireland were regularly shocked by outrages during the decades of the Troubles, but now they were astonished by a very public friendship.

For all the moral compromises and imperfections of the peace process, this surreal spectacle was infinitely preferable to what had Last week's election brought another electoral earthquake but it is far from certain whether it will trigger another era of public jollity.

Sinn Fein won more seats than any other party. Michelle O'Neill is now on track to become the party's first First Minister.

Technically, the positions of First Minister and Deputy First Minister are equal but the symbolic power of Ms O'Neill taking on what is seen as the senior post would be profound.