A mere week ago, a distinct political mood change in Northern Ireland was guided by the hearsay that the negotiations at Stormont had turned a corner.

As the news developed that Prime Minister Theresa May was on her way to Belfast, as well as the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, speculation ignited interest and interest turned to hope. Unfortunately, once again, the absence of urgency and the courage to make hard decisions didn’t reach the upper echelons of the Democratic Unionist Party, and hopes of a deal were scuppered once more.

The DUP were first out with a facetious statement speaking of their “willingness” and “accommodation,” either showing a complete lack of self-awareness or a complete disregard for the electorate’s ability to come to their own conclusions.

Soon after, Sinn Féin held a press where the newly installed President, Mary Lou McDonald, shed light on what the DUP had walked away from. A statement no doubt intended to make unionism seem intolerant and unaccommodating, yet simultaneously uncovering just how far short they fell from ‘no return to the status quo’.

That said, credit where it’s due: compromise was needed, and compromise Sinn Féin made.

Despite the rainbow coloured ‘equality, integrity and respect’ slogan that was printed across election posters and dotted around the country during the Assembly election last March, equal marriage quickly fell from the radar of Sinn Féin. It emerged that the issue would be dealt with through a Private Members’ Bill upon return to the Assembly. Yet the ambiguity around the “review of the Petition of Concern” enabled the DUP to avoid assurances that they wouldn’t use the Petition of Concern (for the sixth time) to quash any such legislation.

It was also agreed that the long awaited ‘Bill of Rights’, as committed to in the Good Friday Agreement to define rights supplementary to the European Human Rights Convention that would reflect the particular circumstances in Northern Ireland, would be reviewed by a committee. Again, nothing concrete, nothing of substance nor any use of language that would suggest any probable delivery of a ‘Bill of Rights’ in this mandate.

Whilst Sinn Féin held true on their promises of delivering a free-standing Irish Language Act, the Act itself was somewhat a diluted version of what had initially been proposed by Conradh na Gaeilge and backed by Sinn Féin.

There was even an Ulster Scots Act to even up the score.

Yet, even this deal, one that didn’t ask for commitments to marriage equality, didn’t involve scrapping or reforming the Petition of Concern prior to the reinstatement of an Assembly, and one that provided a three part language deal, a deal that exposed Sinn Féin’s softening of position, and yet the DUP still couldn’t muster the courage to sign the dotted line.

There has been much speculation that the media’s unhelpful contribution, such as Stephen Nolan’s repetitive peddling out of hard-liners with minute mandates, such as Jim Allister of the TUV, and those with no mandates at all, like political commentator Jamie Bryson. This played into the faux narrative that unionism would be unforgiving if the resemblance of any Irish Language Act were to come to fruition. 

As it stands, right now in Northern Ireland, political unionism has no credible alternative beyond the DUP, thus any voter backlash would have been short lived.

Whatever it was that spooked Mrs. Foster and her senior leadership, it was nothing that the DUP electoral machine wouldn’t have bounced back from. It seems wholly ludicrous and self-harmful that the DUP missed this opportunity to be seen as reasonable negotiators in the face of “Sinn Féin demands.”

Whilst the DUP’s voter base will undoubtedly continue to reward Arlene Foster electorally for ‘standing up for Unionism’, history may not be so kind.