By Mark Devenport BBC Northern Ireland political editor

This week representatives of the two communities of an island bitterly divided between its north and south reached an historic agreement.

They decided that more than 30 years of conflict should be brought to an end.

They pledged to work together, building a peaceful future on the basis of a federal solution.

Paul Murphy: Urging move from IRA

Don't worry, you haven't missed the Good Friday Agreement Mark 2. The deal in question took place in Sri Lanka where an estimated 60,000 people have been killed in a conflict which has raged since 1972.

Observers predict that implementing the ground breaking Sri Lankan agreement might prove difficult. That's something unionists and nationalists could tell the Tamil Tigers and the Sinhalese government all about.

In Northern Ireland, during a fairly quiet political week, David Trimble said the IRA must end their love affair with the gun.

'Predictions'

However, Gerry Adams complained that, so far, the Stormont talks have achieved practically nothing.

Sinn Fein wants the British and Irish governments to produce a precise timetable for implementing all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.

But after a week in the United States talking to senior Bush administration officials, Secretary of State Paul Murphy retorted that there must be moves from the IRA.

Gerry Adams: "Stormont talks have achieved practically nothing"

The pessimistic republican rhetoric of recent days looks like a reaction to the predictions in London newspapers a week ago that the IRA was ready to wind up much of its activity.

Even if there is some truth to such reports, they did little to help the Sinn Fein leadership's public negotiating position.

Perhaps under the immediate impression that the reports emanated from British sources, Martin McGuinness criticised them as intended to undermine the process.

Loyalist decommissioning

However, with increasing indications that a briefing by Bertie Ahern was at the root of it all, Mr McGuinness appeared less forthright.

Without naming the Irish prime minister, he told the BBC's Inside Politics programme that people should be more diplomatic about what they say.

Local politicians have contrasting views on the merit of hate crime legislation - nationalists and the Alliance Party are in favour, but unionists harbour doubts

Apart from pointing to the British and Irish governments' responsibilities, republicans are also emphasising that unionists could do more to build trust.

This explains Mr McGuinness's claim that unionist politicians have failed to use their influence to secure loyalist decommissioning.

It is no coincidence that Sinn Fein has taken to describing the UDA and the UVF as "unionist paramilitaries" rather than loyalists.

With the talks continuing at a glacial speed, Scotland has stolen a march on Northern Ireland by pioneering a package of anti-sectarian proposals.

'Secret shame'

The package - in response to soccer violence in Glasgow - may lead to religious hatred being classed as an aggravating motive for any criminal offence.

The Northern Ireland Office is currently looking for responses to a consultation paper on racial and sectarian crime. It was issued, presumably without any intended irony, on Guy Fawkes' Day.

Local politicians have contrasting views on the merit of "hate crime" legislation. Nationalists and the Alliance party are in favour, but unionists harbour doubts.

Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell described sectarianism as Scotland's "secret shame".

In Northern Ireland, it is a very public shame and one suspects that the sheer size of the problem explains why it has yet to be tackled in such a direct manner.