The secret FF meeting that ‘changed everything’

The path to peace

As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which ultimately brought power sharing to Northern Ireland, set out a path to a united Ireland and ended decades of violence, Seamus Enright speaks to Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith about his memories of the time leading up to it...

Soon after 7am, in a side room not far from the foyer of the Slieve Russell, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stood before a gathering of party colleagues from Border region counties.

Some were scheduled to be in Ballyconnell for the twice-yearly Plenary Session of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIPB) taking place Monday, March 30, 1998. Others summoned.

Joining ‘Bertie’ at the head of this surprise early morning convoke was Attorney General David Byrne and close political adviser Martin Mansergh. The tone was hushed, and the room confused as to the significance of this gathering.

“Then Bertie spoke,” remembers Cavan-Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD, Brendan Smith. “Our mouths dropped.”

The BIPB meeting of 25 Irish and 25 British parliamentarians, where ‘Bertie’ was due to give a keynote address ahead of the Senator George Mitchell imposed deadline (April 9) for political settlement in Northern Ireland, was soon to get underway.

Co-chaired by Former Minister Michael O'Kennedy TD and David Winnick MP, it was the first time the BIPB members had met so close south of the Border. The media interest was intense. Those who hadn’t arrived early were beginning to show up, while arrangements were being made to cater for the wives of dignitaries away from proceedings. One stop would take them on a bread-making lesson at Cavan Town’s Lifeforce Mill. No one was aware of the seismic shift in tension in the room of Fianna Fáil politicians not a stone’s throw away.

Deputy Smith sat in a row near to then Leas-Cheann Comhairle Dr Rory O’Hanlon, Senator Anne Leonard, John Ellis, Mary Coughlan, Tony Killeen, Johnny Brady, Matty Brennan, Conor Lenihan, and Senator Paschal Mooney. The vacant seat next to him would soon be occupied by the Taoiseach when David Byrne took over to thrash over the minutiae of what was being proposed.

“We got a call saying that Bertie wanted to meet the Oireachtas members [on BIPB] and from the Northern half of the country. That’s all we’d been told.”

What developed was a laying of foundations to a potential pathway to end 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland. Concessions would need to be made - on all sides.

“[Bertie] outlined in confidence by and large what was happening in the talks and broached the subject of changing the constitution, Articles 2 and 3. Our mouths dropped. That was and always had been very much a Fianna Fáil and de Valera draft.”

Was there any inkling that such a scenario would be proposed?

“Absolutely not!” says Deputy Smith.

In its 1937 form, and before 1999, Articles 2 and 3 claimed the whole island formed one ‘national territory’. Amended however, it would grant the right to be ‘part of the Irish Nation’ to all born on the island; and further express a desire for peaceful political unification subject to the consent of the people.

“We were taken aback. But he explained to us then what the prize was for doing that,” recalls Deputy Smith. “He took us through it. He said, if agreements were reached, to drop Articles 2 and 3, we’d put in a new provision to coincide with the wording of what would become the Good Friday Agreement.”

It was, Deputy Smith admits, “a big ask” to spring upon the membership so suddenly. All were aware of talks taking place in the background. Everyone was equally aware of the news reports. Only the night before a Catholic family were forced to flee their home following a petrol-bomb attack by Loyalists. The family in question had been the subject of a prolonged campaign of sectarian intimidation.

Unbeknownst to many however, except a select few, was that David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), had at the same time travelled to Chequers for a private meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. On the single item agenda was a proposal for the final phase of planned multi-party talks at Stormont.

What was crucial, from Fianna Fáil’s point of view, was the amount of the “behind the scenes” work being done by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says Deputy Smith.

“Bertie won our party over. He did a lot of meetings, was at his homework all the time. Even then, deep down, and I know from speaking to people at the time, there were those who wondered could it be done?”

Today Deputy Smith describes the Slieve Russell meeting as an “extraordinary moment”.

“I believe that really was the start of Bertie’s internal preparation of Fianna Fáil for what would become the internal workings of the GFA. [Bertie] had the courage and leadership to make this happen,” says Deputy Smith.

“That was the thing [about Bertie], he brought everybody with him, and when it came to the vote, it was endorsed by 94% of the people.”