By Paddy Clancy

THE landmark historic handshake between Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern and hardline northern Protestant leader Ian Paisley has been widely acclaimed throughout Ireland and Britain.

Although the event was carefully choreographed, with every minute detail of the meeting discussed in advance between civil servants from both sides of the border, it was still a momentous occasion, with seasoned observers of The Troubles gulping on lumps in their throats. Some even fought back tears of joy and relief.

What prompted most comment in the aftermath was the warmth of Paisley’s greeting. There was no forced jocularity, no stiff formality accompanying his handclasp.

Ahern was waiting on the steps of Farmleigh House, the former Guinness home in Dublin’s Phoenix Park and now the Irish government venue for important state occasions.

As the mini-cavalcade of two cars bearing Paisley and his party drove up the long driveway Ahern patted down his jacket and waited to welcome his guest. Then, as the cars pulled to a halt, the Irish government leader bustled across the gravel, his face creased in a broad smile.

Paisley’s response was instant and as affectionate. He stepped from his car and with an agility belying his 81 years, and moved briskly forward, hand outstretched and boomed in that unmistakable voice: “Good morning! I have to shake this man’s hand! Give him a grip!”

As they shook right hands, Ahern grasped the top of Paisley’s arm with his free left. Paisley returned the gesture with what one observer called “a manly wallop on the shoulder.”

It was no place for cynics. The leader of the majority of Protestant opinion in Northern Ireland, who only a month ago was refusing to talk to Sinn Fein, was now, after finally opening face-to-face talks with them just a few days earlier, sharing a public podium with the leader of government of the once-hated Republic.

Decades of conflict, 3,600 deaths and many thousands more injuries had gone before that almost unbelievable moment.

The cordial formalities that marked the most historic event in Irish history for many decades were over in a minute. Then the two men went inside to discuss the new north-south friendly relationship.

Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein negotiations chief who will be deputy to Paisley in the new power-sharing administration in Belfast from May 8, reckoned the manner in which the Democratic Unionist Party leader behaved in Dublin, augured well for their future working relationship.

McGuinness, once a leader of the IRA that Paisley and his followers despised, said, “I understand this was the first public handshake. That is another important moment in history. It is very, very welcome.

“Certainly, from the contacts I have had with Dr. Paisley I am more and more convinced that he is willing to enter into the political institutions in the right spirit.”

Following his meeting with Ahern, Paisley underlined still more his eagerness to surmount the bitterness of the past.

“Some say hedges make the best neighbors but that is not the case. I don’t believe we should plant a hedge between our two countries,” Paisley said.

Ahern echoed his sentiments. “We must do our best to put behind us the terrible wounds of our past and work together to build a new relationship between our two traditions.”

Seasoned journalists, many of whom spent more than three decades reporting an apparently endless diet of violence and treachery, admitted they were witnessing an occasion they never believed they would see in their own lifetime.

Veteran TV political analyst Ken Reid of Ulster Television kept repeating, “Is this a dream? Am I dreaming?”

A clue to some of the input by the taoiseach to the preparations that paved the way for the big day was given by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern.

He recalled a cross-party summit in the Scottish town of St. Andrews last October when the atmosphere between Paisley and Dublin leaders began to thaw.

Bertie Ahern presented Paisley with a 50th wedding anniversary present that resulted in a private handshake photographed by members of the Paisley family.

Dermot Ahern said, “The taoiseach has been incredible in the way in which he has dealt with this potentially difficult relationship with Dr. Paisley and I think there’s a great understanding and a great warmth, particularly after the St. Andrews gift.”

The anniversary gift, a wooden bowl, was carved from a tree grown on the site of the Battle of the Boyne where Protestant English King William III defeated deposed Catholic King James II in 1690.

Now Paisley and Ahern have agreed to visit the battlefield together in the near future. Paisley gave an assurance, though they won’t be refighting the battle.