Some interesting events have taken place in Ireland over the past few weeks, of course the most monumental being the developments in the peace process. After thirty years of 'the Troubles' between Protestants and Catholics, between unionists and nationalists, it now appears that the six counties of Northern Ireland are on their way to a peaceful and democratic path of resolution to the issues that have plagued the region since 1921. It will be neither quick nor easy; violence continues by marginal groups who are determined to wreck the peace plan for their own ends, and the parties involved in the plan have a long way to go before stability in the region can be viewed as a fait accompli.

But through the overwhelming 'yes' vote given in the referendum, and now the promising election of supporters of the peace process to the new Northern Ireland Assembly, the people of the North have shown their desire to end the violence and rebuild their lives. We are inspired by the hope of peace, and we are hopeful that the events of recent weeks will signal the beginning of a new day not only for the people of Northern Ireland, but for all those in the Republic and in Britain who have been affected by this long conflict. It's time for the people of the British Isles to reconcile the past, address the issues of all of the nations of those Isles, and go forward together, in a spirit of peace and democracy.

For socialists, that brings us to another event, which already suggests that the hopeful feeling of possibility in the North has become contagious in the Republic as well. On 23 May, Ireland's Democratic Left, the left socialist party which sprung from the more hardline Workers Party in 1992, formally proposed meetings with the Irish Labour Party towards the goal of establishing a new political formation for the Irish left. Citing the fact that vote for the combined Irish left has never exceeded 22%, and that Ireland is nearly the only country in Europe to have never had a left-led government (Democratic Left and Labour were minor partners in a coalition with the centrist Fine Gael party from 1994-1997), the statement from Democratic Left calls for the exploration of a new political force in Irish politics 'which would be significantly larger than the sum of our two parts.'

We are quite pleased to hear this. Since its emergence in 1992 under the capable leadership of Proinsias De Rossa, Democratic Left has consistently been a solid and innovative voice for democratic socialism in Ireland. During the party's brief stint in government, it established itself as an active and reliable ally to the larger Labour Party, helping to draft the first anti-poverty strategy of any Irish government. This move for unity is the right move at the right time, when many of our parties round the world seem ideologically rudderless, and in need of a solidaristic boost. The Democratic Left initiative not only shows a way ahead for democratic socialists in Eire, but in many other countries where social democratic parties have good democratic socialist parties to their left that are willing to work together for a socialist future.

Andrew Hammer