A beacon of tolerance in an intolerant environment

THE President, Mrs Robinson, made more friends than enemies on her visits to Northern Ireland. She was tactful and sensitive yet always conveyed her point, whether directly or indirectly.

Her mission statement on Northern Ireland, she said at the outset of her Presidency, was to extend the hand of friendship to the two communities.

Extending that hand sometimes landed her in trouble, particularly when Mr Gerry Adams was involved, but it didn't deter her. With a few notable exceptions her 15 visits passed off without incident.

Whether greeting the Sinn Fe n president or reaching out to suspicious unionists, she did and said what she wanted notwithstanding the constitutional limitations.

As she mulled over whether to seek a second term, she acknowledged that the situation in the North was an important factor in that decision. Her commitment to the North meant her walking a British and Irish constitutional tightrope when deciding to cross the Border. Despite occasional sniping from the British government, unionist politicians and some Southern politicians, including Mr John Bruton when he was Fine Gael leader in opposition, she kept her balance.

The President discomfited many unionists who didn't know whether to like or dislike her. There would have been a gut instinct to resent her visits North, particularly as she was representative of a Constitution that laid a territorial claim over Northern Ireland. But her resignation from the Irish Labour Party in protest at the perceived exclusion of unionists from the Anglo Irish Agreement won her plaudits.

It was difficult for unionists to be begrudging of a woman who took a political stand in defending their rights, although some managed to overcome that hurdle.

Nationalists generally were delighted with her trips North. There was an almost smug feeling that here was one up for those with the green jerseys. After all, Mrs Robinson is President of Ireland.

Her most controversial visit was to west Belfast in June 1993 when she shook Mr Adams's hand. It infuriated unionists and caused indignation in British government circles, but it was a milestone in Northern politics. The visit and the handshake were perceived by nationalists, and more especially by republicans, as a recognition of their self worth. It also conveyed a degree of legitimacy on Sinn Fein at a vital time when the Hume Adams Reynolds Major quartet were working out a deal that resulted in the IRA ceasefire of August 1994.

The handshake may have psychologically strengthened Mr Adams's position at the time in winning the political argument over the militarists in the republican movement. In years to come, historians may judge that gesture as one of great significance to the peace process.

Predictably the DUP was opposed to this "foreign" President and some Ulster Unionists, notably Mr David Trimble as leader of the UUP and earlier as an ordinary MP, expressed vexation at her visits. The blurring of the private or official nature of the visits preoccupied the Upper Bann MP who is also well versed in constitutional law.

Indeed the status of her visits was never properly established. The Northern Ireland Office viewed them as private, while her office generally described them as "official", in that they had to be sanctioned by the Government.

It was this element of her Northern tours - from Mrs Robinson's first visit in February 1992 to her last in October last year - that peeved Mr Trimble. Unlike the previous UUP leader, Mr James Molyneaux, Mr Trimble pursued the matter doggedly. As recently as last month he said her visits were breaches of protocol, and an insult to the British queen.

"If she cannot observe the normal courtesy towards her majesty then she's better not coming" he complained. Her office responded that she always observed the proper protocol when arriving in Northern Ireland.

Most moderate unionists, however, seemed happy with her election and her visits. The UUP secretary, Mr Jim Wilson, said yesterday that she reflected a "more pleasant and acceptable face of Irish nationalism, and undoubtedly conveyed that she cared about ordinary people". The latter part of Mr Wilson's comment probably reflects the greatest impact of her Presidency on the wider community in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Robinson focused most of her attention on community groups. One paid a heavy price for that attention. The Windsor Women's Centre in south Belfast was torched or vandalised several times because of her visit last September.

But among such people, in unionist or nationalist areas, and even before such vicious sectarianism, Mrs Robinson was always welcome. She was seen as a beacon of tolerance in an intolerant political environment.

These were groups which tended to be run by people not utterly married to the old tribal and political patterns, community activists who wanted to build bridges in line with the President's original mission statement about Northern Ireland.