The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that Iris Robinson is under suicide watch. A DUP spokesman has confirmed to the paper that Robinson is under watch.

“The truth is that Iris remains in hospital under acute psychiatric care and under 24-hour suicide watch… Iris publicly admitted her one indiscretion and has paid a high price for it,” the spokesman said.

Photo via DUP on Flickr  published via CC-Non Commercial-No Derivative Works licence

Have we been robbed a sequel to the The Perfect Cowen Storm tonight? The Taoiseach has jetted to Belfast to be on hand for the morning after the night the Northern deal on power-sharing, parades and justice was agreed.

On April 12th, justice and policing powers will devolve from Westminister to the Northern Irish power-sharing government. The Northern Assembly will vote on the deal on March 9th to seal its passage.

Commenting on the work done to get the deal agreed on BBC5 Live this morning, Gerry Adams said that it has taken “a few hours to crunch” the deal, but “it took a while to get there”. The DUP’s Assembly members voted to accept the deal late last night.

Monday will see more movement, with party leaders meeting to discuss the new position of Justice Minister. Interesting to note that a non-aligned politician and leader of the Alliance Party, David Ford is being groomed for this job.

Also on Monday, a six-member working group co-chaired by Robinson and McGuinness will convene to discuss the formation of a new body to oversee parades.

The deal has been welcomed with differing levels of comment from across the political spectrum. Peter Robinson, Gerry Adams and the Prime Ministers have all made soundings that the deal marks a moment of “mutual respect”.

Quotage

Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen’s joint statement:

The successful outcome of these negotiations is the result of the political parties in Northern Ireland demonstrating leadership, mutual respect and political will to act in the interests of the whole community.

The two Governments fully support and stand over this agreement. We are committed to working, as appropriate, to ensure its faithful implementation.

Eamon Gilmore welcomed the deal cautiously:

The devolution of policing and justice powers was the most significant outstanding issue from the Good Friday/ St. Andrews process and hopefully today’s agreement will now lead to a period of greater political stability and certainty in Northern Ireland.

…

It is also important that the two governments should work to ensure that there is greater involvement by the other parties represented in the Assembly and that key decisions are not left simply to the DUP and Sinn Fein.

Leader of the hardline unionist group, the Traditional Unionist Voice, Jim Allister said:

The deal the DUP so meekly accepted is the same deal they rejected on Monday

..

The deal hasn’t changed, only the snowmen of the DUP, who melted once the heat came on.

Peter Robinson comments on the deal:

Links of interest

• Download the Agreement of Hillsborough Castle in full
• BBC profiles David Ford

Last update: 7/02/10

Just an hour ago, word filtered through that Arlene Foster was replacing Peter Robinson as First Minister of Northern Ireland for the next six weeks. Interesting moves, indeed. Foster, commenting on the floor of Stormont said that this was just a case of her ‘acting up’ and that Robinson would remain First Minister.

And for as much as Foster reiterates, the division of powers between herself and Robinson creates an axis of responsibilities – something that hasn’t existed before in the office of First Minister – it also creates a point of weakness.

Robinson addressing the press, after Foster’s welcome in the chamber at Stormont, thanked the public for their support and reiterated his ethically and proper behaviour, more importantly, underlined his utter commitment to continue with the reform of policing and justice powers over the next couple of weeks.

The continuing stalling of reform in the areas of policing and justice – now at nearly three years – is a bone of contention between the DUP and Sinn Fein. The spikes at division of powers between Robinson and Foster point at this deepening separation. And while Sinn Fein do not want to dwell on IrisGate (as it sharpens focus on the Liam Adams issue) they are neatly pointing their ire at the uncertainty of the powers of First Minister.

On that – what can Robinson actually achieve in the next six weeks on the issues of policing and justice, those mechanics of devolution, that he at the peak of his political prowess and powers over the past three years has failed to complete. All while attempting to build some space for his family to deal with their current problems.

Is this a case of  Robinson stepping back from office of First Minister bit by bit, while trying to cement his political legacy and in doing so, leave a lasting impression on Northern Ireland? And further afield, what happens during the Westminister elections in the Summer?