KEY POINTS:
BELFAST - These days, the Jeeps on the Falls Rd no longer contain helmeted British troops swivelling their rifles in the direction of potential IRA sniper hides: instead, as in any other city, the 4WDs are driven by mothers ferrying children to school.
Where once military surveillance installations were perched on top of flats, now modern apartment blocks with hefty price tags are going up everywhere. The vast Army barracks, for decades a target of bombs and bullets, are gone. No longer do youngsters indulge in that west-Belfast sport of hijacking buses and setting them ablaze.
An hour on the Falls, once one of Europe's most notorious districts, is enough to confirm it: the Troubles are over. Welcome to the new Belfast, and a transformed Northern Ireland, which this week goes to the polls to elect its 108-member Assembly, the product of the Good Friday Agreement.
The aim is to have a devolved government in place, a power-sharing executive which, the polls strongly suggest, will be headed by one-time implacable foes the Democratic Unionist Party's Ian Paisley, hitherto the fiercest opponent of such change, and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's number two.
That outcome would be another remarkable stage in the decade-long path away from violence. So much so that even Belfast's house market is booming.
Prices jumped 37 per cent last year, and the average is near to £200,000 ($565,000), more than in Scotland, Wales or much of England. A rise of "only" 15 per cent is predicted this year. Mansions have sold in south Belfast for more than £2 million, and the Lisburn Rd, once host to oily bike shops, today has jewellers, fashion shops, art galleries. It's dubbed the Lisburn Ramblas.
Alison Campbell, the head of her eponymous model agency and a former Miss Northern Ireland, epitomises the new face of Belfast. Hardly any photo opportunity is complete without one or more of her people.
The middle classes are richer than ever. And this time, the Catholic community is benefiting strongly.
As for Wednesday's poll, the result is in little doubt, but the question is whether, post-election, the DUP and Sinn Fein can cut a deal.
Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, has set a deadline of March 26 for agreement. Most believe a political settlement is needed to underpin that.
- INDEPENDENT
