• to move the deadline for decommissioning forward from May 2000 to June 2001.
• the IRA promised to undertake a "confidence building measure" "within weeks".
• the IRA promised to "put their arms beyond use" and to permit independent arms inspectors to inspect a small number of arms dumps to verify this.
• the Executive was to be set up.

This deal caused great controversy. Within Republicanism, there was great dissatisfaction and claims that the deal was a sell-out. Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams warned that the IRA had "overstretched" themselves. He told a crowd of supporters that the IRA remained "undefeated". The UUP was split down the middle, with David Trimble declaring that "we have crossed the Rubicon", although being cautious at the same time. UUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, famous for sitting on the fence, expressed concern that decommissioning was being redefined as "arms beyond use". The DUP branded the deal a sell-out and warned Trimble to tread carefully.

Unlike most other political parties, the UUP is run by an 850-strong ruling body known as the Ulster Unionist Council. The UUC needed to pass a motion supporting the deal before it could be accepted by the party. While the other parties looked on, bitter campaigning on both sides took place over the next 3 weeks, while polls suggested that the party was split almost exactly 50-50 on the issue. David Trimble postponed the vote by one week so as to finish the campaign, and the UUC finally met on May 27th. In one of the closest votes yet, the UUC voted to accept the proposals by 53% to 47%. Afterwards Trimble was upbeat, but gave a stark warning to the IRA. He said the IRA had let them down before, and that this time he would "not tolerate foot dragging" and said that if they failed to fulfill their side of the bargain, the UUP could review their position within the Assembly. The DUP accused the UUP of moving "beyond the pale" by accepting the proposals.

Power returned to Northern Ireland at midnight on 29/30 May after 3 1/2 months of suspension. "It's great to be back" said Martin McGuinness as he arrived on 30th May. The DUP, which had said it would have to review its presence in the Assembly, refused to be drawn on whether it would re-enter the Executive when it was set up. That decision was deferred until a consultation was completed.

A very embarassing incident for the two governments came on May 4th - a leaked memo describing a meeting between Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson, and Irish Foreign Minister, Brian Cowen. The memo suggested that Cowen's view was that "there should be no further evidence of Britishness in the governance of Northern Ireland". It also described Cowen as "having all the open-mindedness that would be expected of Sinn Fein". Although it is not certain whether it is genuine or not, it caused a chorus of "I told you so"s from Unionists.

The new policing legislation was at the forefront of the news this month. The UUP were deeply unhappy with the Patton recommendations for policing, saying that Patton had overstepped his remit. Trimble had branded it "a shoddy piece of work". They want the name of the RUC to stay in some form. Sinn Fein said that they "could not recommend" a police force whose name contained "RUC". The SDLP and Sinn Fein repeatedly warned the government not to give in to Unionist demands. On May 13th, the UUP said it needed concessions on policing in order to secure a yes vote in the UUC on the 27th. Two days later the government set up the RUC George Cross Commission, possibly as a concession to Unionists, which would recognise the RUC officers who died in the Troubles. The legislation was given its first reading in Parliament on the 16th, but the Irish government, Sinn Fein and the SDLP all expressed doubts and the government was forced to make changes to bring it more into line with the Patton proposals. The SDLP listed 44 defects in the legislation, while on the 21st Gerry Adams ruled out recommending young Catholics join the new police force given the legislation. The DUP accused Adams of being "implacable".

The Marching Season got under way in late May. On May 27th the Parades Commission permitted a Junior Orange Order parade to proceed past the south end of Garvaghy Road, Portadown. The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition described the decision as "totally illogical", although the march passed off without incident. Earlier in the month a march in Dublin by the Dublin and Wicklow Grand Lodge had to be called off after reports of intimidation by Republicans.

Terrorist activity continued alarmingly, with a number of murders to add to the ubiquitous punishment beatings. Dissident Republicans stole fertiliser from farms in the border regions, fuelling rumours that they were still active. On 19th May Belfast city centre was badly disrupted by a series of hoax bomb alerts which were claimed by the CIRA. The Irish Garda arrested 8 members of the 'real' IRA on the day before the UUC vote and released them a few days later. It was probably to prevent them from setting off bombs in an attempt to influence the vote. On the day the arrests took place, Enniskillen's Killyhevlin Hotel was disrupted by a hoax bomb alert. The Killyhevlin is a traditional target of dissident Republicans. On May 28th, Edmund McCoy was shot dead in a pub in Belfast. Thought to be drugs related, the attack was blamed on the IRA and led to claims that the IRA ceasefire was over.

On the Loyalist side things were no quieter. On May 17th, a number of machine guns were found by the RUC in a Ballymoney office used by loyalist prisoner group, EPIC. Meanwhile an ongoing feud between the UVF and LVF cost a life - on May 26th, Martin Taylor was shot dead in Belfast. Although the LVF denied responsibility, they have been blamed. The UFF (linked to the UDA) said they didn't believe the IRA promise to put arms beyond use was sincere and declared that they would not follow suit.