Me and the Reverend Ian

Standing in the Long Hall of the magnificent Stormont building, the seat of government in Northern Ireland is a strange experience for a Southern catholic given the history of the place as a bastion of Protestant loyalism. I was there on November 6th for the launch of singer Dana's biography.

Looking at the mob who were standing on the stage was even more surreal given the conflicting politics of those present. Onstage were political heavyweights the Loyalist warhorse Rev. Ian Paisley, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness (acknowledged as a past prime mover in the Provisional IRA), former Irish Premier Albert Reynolds, Nobel prize winner John Hume of the SDLP and Dana (Rosemary Scallon) who was an 18 year old slip of a girl from the Bogside in Derry when she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1970 when the Northern Ireland Troubles were reaching a crescendo.

Now here they are laughing and cracking jokes together. Paisley is feted like a popstar. I must be the only person in the room who hasn't had their photo taken with him.

That these people would share a room never mind a podium was unthinkable for generations and even 10 years ago it was an impossibility. I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real.

That this gathering was happening in front of my eyes is a concrete example of how times have changed in Ireland during my time overseas.

Should I shake Ian Paisley's hand? Should I shake McGuinness' hand? Do I move with the times and embrace a new chapter in Irish history or do I fall back on past attitudes. I found myself asking what would my dad have done? This is generational change. This is history.

I shake John Hume's hand and tell him how much I admire what he has done for peace and justice over the years.

As we drive home we take a wrong turn and end up in a housing estate with political murals on the gable walls. As we progress we realise that the murals are UVF. We turn the car and quickly find the road for Dublin. Ireland has changed but not THAT much.