It's good to talk. The future depends on it

FOR anyone like me, who wants to see local politicians running the affairs of Northern Ireland, the continuing series of meetings between David Trimble and Gerry Adams has been encouraging.

Not because I think agreement in those talks will be easy, let alone guaranteed, but because the dialogue itself goes to the heart of our political problem.

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed, most unionists knew that there would be a period of transition to peaceful democratic means. Not many expected paramilitary groups to abandon their capabilities and their activities overnight.

At the same time, nationalists accepted that unionists would take some persuasion to operate all the power-sharing political institutions, particularly where this involved working with those linked to paramilitarism.

As the years have gone by and paramilitary activity has continued - albeit at a lower level - pro-Agreement unionists have been put in an increasingly difficult position.

Their own trust in the intentions of republicans has taken a battering and the hardliners have enjoyed their discomfort.

Throughout these years the two men at the centre of the current dialogue have both clung doggedly to the Agreement.

David Trimble has gone into government and shared power with Sinn Fein, willing to trust that the republican movement will make the final transition.

Any outsider can see that he has led the unionist community through a period in which more progress has been made in winding up paramilitarism and bringing peace to Northern Ireland than at any time in the past.

Gerry Adams has continued to argue for political progress even when his community has been disappointed by unionist withdrawal from the institutions, or by the postponement of elections.

I know both men well and I know that both believe in the Agreement, even if they come from radically different perspectives and have opposing political objectives.

Both have to persuade their sceptics. It is always easy to say "no", and refuse to believe that the other side can ever change.

I hope that the dialogue now taking place will restore some of the trust lost since the Good Friday Agreement.

As Bertie Ahern said this week, republicans need to convince unionists and the governments, that paramilitary activity has come to an end for good.

Unionists also need to convince republicans and nationalists that, if this happens, they will make all the institutions work.

That trust needs to be restored and developed.

It is not just the only way that we can get back to the devolved government that was working so well - but it is the only way that Northern Ireland can reach a better future of lasting peace and stability.

The reason for this is simple... Only nationalists, unionists, republicans and loyalists can build the future together, not governments.

The two Governments can and will play their parts, but it is not our children who will have to live and work together in Northern Ireland - it is the children of the communities now in dialogue.

Anyone who wants a just and lasting peace in Northern Ireland and an end to violence will wish David Trimble and Gerry Adams well, however much they may disagree with one or both men.

Either of them could have thrown in the towel long ago and said it was just too difficult. But to do that would have been to say that different communities cannot share the future in Northern Ireland.

To do that is to condemn another generation to bitterness and hatred.

The people of Northern Ireland know better. They know that individuals and communities can live together because, for all the negative experiences, they have seen things change for the better.

For the first time in years they have seen a near "normal" summer in Northern Ireland.

When I talk to people across Northern Ireland I often think they are ahead of some of their politicians in wanting the Agreement implemented in full, in wanting it to work.

They need leaders who are prepared to lead - to go out ahead and point the route to a better future.

In David Trimble and Gerry Adams I believe they have leaders who are prepared to take those risks.

We all hope that they will be successful.

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