The Good Friday Agreement: 1998

In the last decade something of historic value has been achieved in Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement is widely accepted as the defining social contract, governing relations within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between Ireland and Britain. The new dispensation transcends the settlement of the early 1920s, based on a simple partition of territory. India, by awarding last year's Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to John Hume, recognises the significance of what has happened. Of course the Good Friday settlement has not yet been fully implemented. Elections are due to be held in Northern Ireland on November 26. It is not clear whether the atmosphere by the time the elections are held will be more or less conducive to forming a working power-sharing administration on the other side of the polling date. The Irish and British Governments, as partners in the process, have been working hard to encourage all those political leaders in Northern Ireland who are taking risks for peace. I shall say more in a few moments about why it is proving so difficult to establish trust. Our continuing struggle to implement the Agreement imposes modesty and caution on an occasion like this evening. A second ground for modesty is that the perspective of any one individual or party is limited: to an extent a peace process depends on the co existence of different perspectives. I speak from the Irish Government perspective, one of the two Governments at the heart of the process. Others have been involved as well; each of the parties in Northern Ireland has its own story to tell.