I don’t think its a big deal at all, nothing more than a PR stunt that Martin and Betty couldn’t sidestep as SF are going down the political route now.
In terms of how it will affect things here, it won’t change a jot, there are still plenty of morons on both sides of the divide who are hell bent on continuing the sickening secarianism that has divided the country for many years.
Currently the province is getting marked up with flags for the so called, ‘glorious twelfth’ nothing more than an excuse for drunken hoods to throw some stones and petrol bombs at the police.
Only last night this ‘flag guarding’ created this nice piece of news;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18603574
However depressing the above may sound things are slowly getting better here but its more to do with education from mixed schools and responsible parents teaching their children to have respect for all people regardless of background, not what happens up on the hill.
Eventually there will be a vote on the future of NI but I doubt if it will be in my lifetime. The Republic of Ireland need to pay off the loans first to be able to afford to pay the salaries of the 35% of peopl employed by the civil service here!