But right from the start it was beleaguered, facing as it did opposition both from the IRA and from a majority of the Protestant population. The IRA sought outright victory, while many Unionists simply would not accept the new deal. Some Unionists feared the new arrangements were the start of a slippery slope towards a united Ireland; others simply could not abide the thought of having Catholics in government. All this meant that while the new arrangements had majority support within the assembly, and indeed within Northern Ireland as a whole, they had the support of fewer than half of
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