Ulster’s omens

GERRY ADAMS must be a happy man. Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing and the party which he leads, has just won a parliamentary seat in the Irish Republic. This victory comes little more than a month after Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness, Irish republicanism's two most prominent leaders, won parliamentary seats in Britain's general election. Meanwhile Fianna Fail, the most nationalist of the Irish Republic's parties, is set to lead the next government in Dublin. Bertie Ahern, Fianna Fail's leader and the next Irish prime minister, has already met Mr Adams. The so-called “pan-nationalist” front established by Albert Reynolds, the former Irish prime minister and Mr Ahern's predecessor as Fianna Fail leader, is about to be reassembled. To emphasise the point, Mr Ahern has promised to appoint Mr Reynolds as his personal envoy to Northern Ireland.