Peace and Good Friday Agreement must be kept

The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was flagged at the 63rd Plenary of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) in Stormont last Monday, March 6.

Cavan Monaghan TD Brendan Smith, who is the Irish Co-Chair of the BIPA, spoke at the event. It was also attended by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Also present was Sir John Holmes, the former principal private secretary to Sir John Major, who was knighted for his services for helping to establish the text of the deal.

Deputy Smith spoke about how the agreement led to peace on both sides of the border, but also warned how recent acts of violence posed a threat to it.

“As the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement approaches, I’ve thought a great deal about how peace on this island was achieved after so many years of violence. The attempted murder of DCI John Caldwell is an outrageous attack on that success. It has reminded us in the most brutal way possible of how far we have come and how much we have to lose.”

He also paid tribute to the manner in which both sides communicated together.

“The Good Friday Agreement succeeded because Prime Ministers and Taoisigh talked to each other, and worked with each other, privately and publicly. They talked to each other frequently, even exhaustively. They knew each other well enough to be able to disagree and still keep talking, both quietly and loudly.”

Deputy Smith also spoke of the political leadership in Northern Ireland at the time, paying particular tribute to John Hume and David Trimble, saying Hume was a “resolute advocate for peace” who knew that “talking to those who already agree with you is not enough”, while Trimble “took a leap of faith for peace, without which the Good Friday Agreement would not have been possible”.

The Cavan TD also acknowledged the ordinary people of Northern Ireland saying: “Peace was made by the countless community groups, the clergy, the ordinary people who decided at the ballot box to support the Agreement.”

The UK’s BIPA co-chair Karen Bradley also attended. She said: “The historic importance of the Agreement cannot be understated. It has provided an enduring peace that though at times fragile, remains uncontested. We want the relations built here between to help contribute to that process.”