The leaders of Northern Ireland's sectarian parties have never spoken to each other, but now they're both saying yes

By BARRY HILLENBRAND /BELFAST

or the past five weeks David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the I.R.A., were in an unaccustomed position: on the same side of a political dispute. They both campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum on the Northern Ireland peace agreement. But despite this common cause, the two men have never spoken to each other. Trimble refuses even to make eye contact with Adams when their paths happen to cross.

Last week TIME interviewed Trimble in his Belfast offices in Glengall Street, which are protected by thick steel doors, closed circuit TV and beefy security guards. Two hours later, at the equally-secure Sinn Fein headquarters on Andersonstown Road, TIME posed the same set of questions to Adams. Until they agree to direct talks this is as close to a public political debate between the two as anyone is likely to get.

Adams and Trimble share more than a need for security. Each has a quick, self-deprecating sense of humor and a razor-sharp mind. Each believes that voter approval of the agreement brings peace closer. Says Trimble: "The underlying trend is positive, but I don't expect progress to be smooth. There will be problems. I still have doubts about the commitment of Sinn Fein. The new arrangements--the new institutions, the new Assembly--are not guaranteed to work. But merely setting them up changes the political landscape dramatically." Adams concurs. "The Good Friday agreement is a significant part of the process," he argues. "It is just the beginning of the progress [toward peace]. It's been four years of foreplay and now we are getting down to substantive issues. There will be lots of problems up the road, but we have to persevere."

Adams insists that the agreement came about because he and his Catholic nationalist colleagues "have embraced change. All the key watersheds and initiatives [in securing the agreement] came from Sinn Fein. Nationalist opinion in Ireland, with the assistance of Irish-Americans and President Clinton, put up an alternative to violence and meant in turn that the I.R.A. called its cessation." Trimble agrees there has been change in the nationalist movement--but only up to a point. Says he: "There is a cease-fire, but they have not plucked up the courage to say publicly they have given up violence. So consequently I am very skeptical." This is why he is insisting that the I.R.A. must begin to turn in its weapons before Adams and other Sinn Fein leaders are allowed to take up executive positions in the new Northern Ireland government.

Adams retorts that he is expecting such difficulties over nationalist participation: "There will be factions within unionism which will attempt to block Sinn Fein from having equality of treatment within the Assembly and all-Ireland bodies." He is, he says, prepared for some tough times ahead: "Making it work will be very hard work indeed."

Asked about who gained most from the agreement, Trimble concedes there are several difficult points in it for him, including the promise for early release of prisoners convicted of terrorist charges. But, he says: "The Irish nationalist movement is settling for an awful lot less than their core objectives"--by which he means that Sinn Fein acccepted a partitioned Ireland and no end to British rule in the foreseeable future. "They were not willing to contemplate a settlement of this nature until comparatively recently." Interestingly, Adams agrees: "My view is that there was a better deal on offer. The document could have been stronger, but we came to it generously and willing to build up its weaknesses."

Adams and Trimble are of one mind that building bridges across the sectarian divide in the North will be easier now that the agreement is in place. "At this moment," says Trimble, "there are more cross-community contacts in Northern Ireland than there were before the Troubles. There has been a degree of integration within society despite the political instability. And now this can be spun forward."

Adams is also eager to work for more cross-community ties. Says he: "I have recognized that Orangism, despite all of its threats to Irish Catholics, is a legitimate strand in the history of this island. I don't want to shape a society where unionists have their own little space and we have ours. If that is all we get, I would settle for peaceful coexistence. It's better than violence. But I would dearly love a genuinely caring, inclusive society which has all the diversity of the people of this island."

Finally, TIME asked whether the two had ever considered going fishing together--just to further the cause of inclusiveness. Trimble looked flustered. He flushed red, as he always does when nervous. "The thought has never crossed my mind," he said. He reflected and then refused: "From what I have observed of Gerry Adams from fairly close quarters in the last six months, he didn't rise in my estimation." Adams also declined to take the bait. "I don't fish," he replied. But then he added: "But if I ever do take up fishing, the first person I would bring with me is David Trimble."